Kick-off meeting, 9–10 June 2015, Brussels
On 9–10 June 2015, the IECE kick-off meeting took place in Brussels. Over 60 researchers and practitioners from Agency member countries attended the event. Keynote speakers from the European Commission, OECD, UNESCO, Eurydice, Ghent University and the International Society on Early Intervention introduced the latest research and policy developments in the area of early childhood education and care.
In addition to opportunities for networking and discussing the project plan and future activities, participants joined working groups on key thematic areas.
Overall, the kick-off meeting has provided a good basis for moving forward with project activities during 2015 and 2016. Conference materials and presentations can be downloaded below.
Conference materials
- Programme
- Project plan
- Working groups’ composition
- Working groups’ discussion points
- List of questions for the working groups
- Conceptual framework
Kick-off meeting presentations – Tuesday, 9 June
- Background to the work of the European Agency, by Cor J.W. Meijer, Agency Director
- Information about the ‘Inclusive Pre-primary Education’ project and the conceptual framework, by Mary Kyriazopoulou and Paul Bartolo, European Agency
- Presentation of the ‘Quality Framework on ECEC’, by Nora Milotay, European Commission
- Main findings of the study on the ‘Effective use of early childhood education and care (ECEC) in preventing early school leaving (ESL): Putting ECEC into the learning continuum’, by Dr. Jan Peeters, ECEC expert, Centre for Innovation in the Early Years (VBJK), Ghent University
- Current work by the OECD in the area of ECEC – Rowena Phair, OECD
- Current work by UNESCO in the area of ECEC – Maki Hayashikawa, UNESCO
- Recent work by Eurydice in the area of ECEC – Akvile Motiejunaite, Eurydice
- Recent work by the International Society on Early Intervention in the area of ECEC – Eva Björck-Åkesson and Climent Giné, ISEI
Working groups’ presentations - Wednesday, 10 June
- Feedback from working group A
- Feedback from working group B
- Feedback from working group C
- Feedback from working group D
IECE Final Conference, 1–2 November 2017, Lisbon, Portugal
The Agency organised this event in co-operation with the General-Directorate of Education, Ministry of Education and Science, Portugal.
The conference aimed to highlight and present the project’s main outcomes:
- The focus on inclusion outcomes (belongingness, engagement, learning);
- The Ecosystem Model of Inclusive Early Childhood Education;
- The Self-Reflection Tool to improve the inclusiveness of the early childhood education environment.
The conference was attended by 180 participants which included project experts, Agency country representatives, Portuguese experts, as well as speakers from international organisations and European institutions.
The conference programme consisted of panel presentations in plenary and parallel workshop sessions where participants had the opportunity to discuss on key project themes and to explore how to use the Ecosystem model of IECE and the Self-Reflection tool in-depth.
The conference was closed by Ana Magraner, Chair of the European Agency, Ana Sofia Antunes, Secretary of State for Inclusion of People with Disabilities, Portugal and João Costa, Secretary of State for Education, Portugal.
The conference presentations and materials can be downloaded from the hyperlinks below.
Plenary session presentation, Wednesday 1 November
Workshops presentations and outcomes
Workshop 1
Workshop 2
Workshop 3
Workshop 4
Plenary session presentations, Thursday 2 November
- IECE Final Conference – Plenary 2 November 2017
- IECE Final Conference – Project reflections 2 November 2017