This report is part of the three-year Inclusive Early Childhood Education (IECE) project, which ran from 2015 to 2017. The project aimed to identify, analyse and subsequently promote the main characteristics of quality inclusive pre-primary education for all children from three years of age to the start of primary education.
This report presents the findings of the qualitative thematic analysis of 32 example descriptions of IECE across Europe that were submitted to the IECE project in 2015. The analysis identified 25 subthemes on quality IECE that were presented within a new model: the Ecosystem Model for IECE. This new model was inspired by a combination of two major perspectives on quality early childhood education, namely the outcome–process–structure model and the ecological systems model. The Ecosystem Model, grounded in the example descriptions by practitioners and their advisors on IECE, aims to promote a deeper and wider understanding of the issues related to IECE. It is expected to enhance IECE research, policy and practice in Europe and internationally.
For more information, visit the IECE project web area.