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Professional development tools supporting children’s participation rights in early childhood education and care settings: Main lessons from the PARTICIPA project.

aguiar

Speaker:

Cecília Aguiar - (Visiting UoL Research Center on the 21-st and 22-nd of November)

University:

ISCTE, Portugal

host city:

Lisbon, Portugal

date:

22/11/2024

time:

3:30 pm

location:

UoL Nicosia Campus

Abstract

Children have the right to participate in all matters that affect them and to have their perspectives respected and considered. The implementation of this right is essential for a democratic society; however, it remains a challenge. Considering that early childhood education professionals serve as gatekeepers of young children’s participation, the Erasmus+ PARTICIPA project developed a professional development approach, involving the creation of a massive open online course (MOOC) and self-assessment tools targeting early childhood education coordinators, teachers, and assistants. Specifically, this approach aimed to strengthen professionals’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices that support the promotion of children’s participation. In this talk, I will describe (a) the project’s main activities and outputs; (b) the main findings from the PARTICIPA feasibility study; and (c) the main lessons learned in this Erasmus+ project involving 5 partners from Portugal, Belgium, Poland, and Greece.

 

About the Speaker

Cecília Aguiar is an associate professor at Iscte, the current director of the Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, and a researcher at CIS-IUL – Center for Social Research and Intervention. With a background in developmental and educational psychology, she has led and participated in research projects on the quality of early childhood education settings and their effects on children’s social development. She coordinated the work package on curriculum, pedagogy, and social climate in the H2020 ISOTIS project and led the Portuguese participation in the Erasmus+ KIT@ and BECERID projects, the latter of which launched the blog PrimeirosAnos.pt, a research-based resource aimed at early childhood education professionals. From 2019 to 2022, she coordinated the Erasmus+ PARTICIPA project – Professional Development Tools Supporting Participation Rights in Early Childhood Education and is currently coordinating project KidLe: Developing an intercultural game as a pedagogic tool for the inclusion of pupils with migrant bacKground in new Learning environments, with UoL as a key partner. Cecília Aguiar has served as Associate Editor of the Early Childhood Research Quarterly and has published in international indexed journals within Educational and Developmental Psychology and Education.

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The project is co-funded by the EU within the framework of the Cohesion Policy Programme “THALIA 2021-2027” through the Research and Innovation Foundation. [Pr. no. EXCELLENCE/0524/0568]. The content reflects the views of the author(s) only. The European Commission and the Managing Authority of THALIA 2021–2027 cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.