Early Childhood Education in Social and Political Transitions: The Legacy of the Open Society Foundations Step by Step Program

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This open access book is about the successes and challenges of the institutions and individuals who transformed early child education in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe (CEE) and Eurasia in response to the political transitions to democracy in the 1990s. Through new interviews and unpublished reports, the book gives voice to committed practitioners, researchers and policymakers who are developing inspiring services for and with young children and their families, including children who live in very difficult circumstances. They work with children affected by war, refugee families with young children, children who live in poverty, children of minorities, and children with disabilities and developmental delays. The voices of these pedagogues, experts and NGO leaders, who were supported by the Open Society Foundations Early Childhood Program, bring inspiring messages to those in the field of early childhood seeking to promote democratic values and social inclusion. The book traces the extension of programs to Africa and Asia and explores how strategies used to transform early childhood education following the political and social transformations in Europe and Eurasia can inform responsive reforms and innovations in early childhood education today and in the future.

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by Open Society Foundation (OSF).

Reviews

In the face of insurmountable obstacles generated by poverty in low democracy states this is a book that provides hope through a remarkable insight into how the Open Society contributed to global early childhood education (ECE). Over a period of three decades from the 1990s it follows the work of the Step by Step programme. The authors have captured how systemic support for ECE can help ameliorate inequality for young children. A must read for anyone wanting to see how sustainable change is possible. * Iram Siraj OBE, Professor of Child Development, University of Oxford, UK *
What sparked the transformative wave in early childhood education across Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe, and the former Soviet Union after the fall of the Berlin Wall Dive into a compelling first-hand narrative that chronicles the journey of the Step by Step program from model kindergartens to a global movement, championing inclusive, creative, and democratic learning environments. An essential read for anyone passionate about the power of education in shaping open societies. -- Iveta Silova, Professor and Associate Dean of Global Engagement, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University, USA
The encouraging message of this book is strengthening early childhood practitioners readiness for change, dealing with resistance to change and creating inclusive, democratic and qualitative education for young children. Although this book explores Step by Step and Open Societys Early Childhood Program, the content, different topics and theoretical analysis have a universal application in the phenomenology of transforming ECEC in general. -- Lidija Miskeljin, University of Belgrade, Serbia

Author Bio

Sarah Klaus is Adjunct Assistant Professor at Georgetown Universitys Center for Child and Human Development, USA, and an independent Advisor and Consultant to foundations, international agencies and NGOs. Formerly she directed the Early Childhood Program at the Open Society Foundations.

Jan Peeters is a Senior Researcher and Consultant, based in Belgium, working with Innovations in the Early Years and Fair Start Stories, the European Commission and UNICEF, including in Eastern European countries. Formerly, he was a Senior Researcher in the Department of Social Pedagogy and Social Work at Ghent University, Belgium.

Tatjana Vonta, now retired, was Senior Researcher and Head of the Step by Step Centre at the Educational Research Institute, an Associate Professor at the University of Primorska, Slovenia, and provided independent consultancy services to the International Step by Step Association, Open Society Foundations and UNICEF.