Early childhood is a very important period in child education and is largely influenced by the environment in which children live. The project was aimed at developing the competences of pre-school children, in particular the development of social and civic competences, through the implementation of the AFLATOT program. The main objective of the project was to create an innovative approach to the education of early children and their parents, as well as pedagogical and non-pedagogical staff in early childhood facilities. Target groups direct: - Kindergartens, community centers: 30 facilities - Professional trainers: 15 participants - Teachers, non-teaching staff: 75 participants - Study trip participants: 20 participants - Conference participants: 32 participants - Roundtable participants: 64 participants - Early children and their parents: more than 850 children and parents involved in workshops in kindergartens and community centers. Indirect target groups: - Representatives of the municipalities involved: more than 900 persons (early-age children and parents, representatives of municipal authorities, NGOs) - Teachers, non-teaching staff: 270 passively influenced teachers Activities: - 1 Final Conference - 3 national round tables AFLATOT (Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia) - 3 national trainings of trainers (Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia) - 3 trainings of teachers and non-teaching staff (Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia) - 2 study trips (Serbia, Slovakia). Activity in which we tested prepared manuals through trained staff:150 social and financial workshops for young children and their parents (30 kindergartens and community centers). Intellectual outputs: - 4 training manuals for AFLATOT trainers training - 4 training manuals for AFLATOT training for teachers and non-teaching staff - 3 publications for work with families (Serbian, Slovak, Hungarian), English version is part of the training manual for AFLATOT training of teachers and non-teaching staff.

"<< Background >>Action-oriented media literacy is a central key competence in a society significantly influenced by digitisation as well as in everyday life and the professional environment. Thus, competences of the digital world are becoming a central prerequisite for social participation and they are imperative for a successful educational and professional career. Learning and living in the context of increasing digitisation and critical reflection will be integral parts of our society in the future.""The term 'action orientation' is essentially based on the reform pedagogical concept of action learning, which focuses on linking practical and theoretical knowledge acquisition. The common catchword here is 'learning by doing'."" (www.medien-weiter-bildung.de 2021). Making is fully in line with the principle of action-oriented media education and is also referred to as a ""media education door opener"" (medienimpulse, Jg. 58, Nr. 4, 2020). The diversity of free experimentation, creative problem solving and improvisation makes action-oriented forms and different learning paths of media education possible. Reflection on doing is an essential principle of the action-oriented perspective. In the last decade, there has been an unprecedented boom of communities engaged in DIY activities. Events such as the Maker Faire or the European Maker Week, which are supported by the EU Commission, play an important role in promoting the so-called ""maker movement"".(cf. JRC, Overview of the Maker Movement in the EU, EU 2017).However, there are clear differences in the development and growth of the maker movement across the EU. This becomes clearest in a comparison of the EU28 states when looking at the existing Makerspaces per million inhabitants (p.e.). (cf. ibid.)Four of the EU28 states are involved in the project, which clearly shows the different levels of development on a pan-European scale and is thus quite representative. With the MakerEDU project, we are creating the opportunity to train educational professionals as multipliers in the field of making and the opportunity to pass on action-oriented media literacy to children and young people throughout Europe. The prerequisite for the latter, however, is that educators themselves deal with these topics and develop the corresponding competences. At the moment, especially in rural areas, there is not only a lack of didactic methods and teaching and learning materials that support exploratory learning, but also a lack of appropriate premises and technical equipment. One way to support professionals in their media pedagogical mission is to offer appropriate further training and handouts on how to implement the knowledge they have learned. Makerspaces and making activities, as innovative practices, offer the possibility to actively promote creative competences, to enable access to and use of (digital) technologies and to consciously combine social interaction. This enables meaningful participation in an increasingly digital world.<< Objectives >>The following activities will be implemented to achieve the project objective:1.development of a vocational training manual for educational staff with appropriate theoretical background knowledge on action-oriented media literacy and making, methods and didactics as well as learning experiences and learning goals for children and young people.2.development of a catalogue of requirements for a makerspace in rural regions of Europe with a concept for Future use of the premises.3.to create a collection of practice-proven, topic-related and target group-specific pedagogical practical instructions for concrete teaching and learning with children and young people in a makerspace.A planned Maker's Conference per partner country and an international training seminar are central elements of the dissemination of the project results. The direct target group of the pedagogical staff needs to be reached. Support is provided by stakeholders from the public and private (vocational) education sector, such as kindergartens, schools, youth and social institutions or youth welfare offices, as well as representatives from politics and society.<< Implementation >>The following activities will be implemented to achieve the project objective:1.development of a vocational training manual for educational staff with appropriate theoretical background knowledge on action-oriented media literacy and making, methods and didactics as well as learning experiences and learning goals for children and young people.2.development of a catalogue of requirements for a makerspace in rural regions of Europe with a concept for space utilisation.3.to create a collection of practice-proven, topic-related and target group-specific pedagogical practical instructions for concrete teaching and learning with children and young people in a makerspace.A planned Maker's Conference per partner country and an international training seminar are central elements of the dissemination of the project results. The direct target group of the pedagogical staff needs to be reached. Support is provided by stakeholders from the public and private (vocational) education sector, such as kindergartens, schools, youth and social institutions or youth welfare offices, as well as representatives from politics and society.<< Results >>The training manual developed in the project forms the basis for increasing the competences of educational professionals in the field of using digital media in everyday professional life - be it in school lessons, in media education or in imparting digital knowledge. The further training courses developed in the project also provide the participants with the skills to set up and use a Makerspace in their own institution. Learning these new methods and instruments together with the pedagogical practical instructions developed in the project increase the quality of the knowledge transfer. The pedagogical professionals are thereby enabled to master the upcoming challenges in their everyday professional life. In this way, the pedagogical professionals and thus the teaching institutions employing them will be in a better future position to integrate digital media into lessons or educational offers in an action-oriented way.Children and young people benefit from a practice-oriented and action-oriented media education imparted by the educational professionals. In turn, they strengthen their competences and increasingly develop motivation to engage in the future-oriented STEM subjects. The knowledge acquired by the children and young people in the area of making is closely linked to an increase in self-efficacy and the ability to cooperate; it inspires creativity and strengthens resilience.This significantly improves the starting position for children and young people to assert themselves in the digital professional world.The staff of the participating institutions trained in the project also strengthen their digital media competences and their media pedagogical skills in order to contribute to increasing the quality of their educational offers."

"<< Background >>Our initiative has been developed based on three pillars: 1. EU priorities and the recommendations regarding: a) closing the gender gap from early years, b) crucial role of inclusive quality ECEC in this process, c) closing the gender gap in access and use of digital tools from early years; 2. Research data about the age when a child notices gender differences, forms attitudes, prejudice and discriminatory behaviour; 3. Needs and interests of the ECEC teachers, professionals and other staff, policy and decision makers engaged in ECD.As challenging gender stereotypes from early years is one of the key objectives of the EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020–2025 and the first target of the UN SDGs 2030 (Goal 5), gender mainstreaming - incorporating a gender equality perspective in core activities, processes and policies is seen as the most effective way to achieve the set EU and UN goals. Given that the EU Quality Framework Recommendations for inclusive quality ECEC provide comprehensive guidelines to all the areas of ECEC that need to be addressed in order to achieve the overall ECEC quality, we see enabling the ECEC providers to monitor and evaluate how gender equality is mainstreamed in each of the areas as the best way to improve gender equality in early years. COVID-19 has revealed how important it is for all education professionals and children to have at least basic digital skills. There is a huge gender gap in access to digital tools, especially when the resources are limited. This makes EC Digital Agenda which was the first of the 7 flagship initiatives under Europe 2020 Strategy even more relevant and the need to address the gender gap in using digital tools from early years is even more urgent now.From the surveys in the previous projects and in preparation of this proposal in the project partners’ countries, it is clear that the ECEC teachers and other staff: a) do not have enough knowledge, skills and self-confidence in their own competences and power to change negative attitudes that children bring from home (around 25% of the surveyed ones), b) are interested in learning more about gender equality and mainstreaming (more than 70% of them). Children 3 to 6 years old notice the separation of ""boys' and girls’ corners, girls’ and boys’ toys and the negative reaction of adults if they try to cross the “line” (Pavlovic Breneselovic, Dragana, 2015. Gde stanuje kvalitet: istraživanje sa decom prakse dečjeg vrtića).Bearing all this in mind, we commit to providing innovative methods and toolkits for preschool teachers, support teams and training providers for their professional development and to develop teams of expert trainers who can ensure sustainability of the acquired knowledge and skills to work towards closing the gender gap and gender related use of digital tools inequality among boys and girls. The focus is on improving monitoring and (self)evaluation of the ECEC institutions and professionals in terms of gender equality. Building on the lessons learnt, recommendations and material developed in our previous IPA and Erasmus+ projects we will create new, innovative tools and guides addressing gender gap and gender related use of digital tools inequality in ECEC. Simultaneously, we will enrich our partnership with the knowledge, experience and skills coming from kindergartens in the project partner countries.<< Objectives >>The main goal is to support ECEC teachers, preschools’ leaders and other training providers to improve gender and gender related digital access equality in ECEC settings in all aspects that ensure inclusive quality ECEC as per EU Quality Framework Recommendations, whilst empowering them to monitor and (self)evaluate the gender mainstreaming in ECEC.The specific objectives are: 1. To improve ECEC professionals’ and other supporting staff’s competences to self-assess their own gender biased prejudice and discriminatory attitudes and practises; 2. To develop tools and guides for policies and practices reducing gender and gender related digital use gaps in the ECEC settings in 5 quality areas per EU Quality Framework Recommendations; 3. To create and strengthen learning community of teachers, parents, civil society and other stakeholders that can effectively monitor, (self)evaluate gender and gender related digital use and plan measures to reduce it.The final version of the project results will include examples of best practices from all the participating communities and countries and therefore it will be also a model for European approach to this topic that can be used and adapted to any cultural environment.<< Implementation >>In order to reach our objectives and achieve our goal, we will develop 3 types of tools: 1. Tool for (self)assessment of gender related personal prejudice, stereotypes and (un)conscious bias affecting the practices of preschool teachers and other ECEC staff in their interaction with young children; 2. Best Practices in Achieving Gender and Gender Related Access and Use of Digital Tools Equality in ECEC; 3. Toolkit for Monitoring and Evaluation of Gender Equality in ECEC settings.We will train 20 future trainers for ECEC teachers and other professionals to use these tools, who, in turn, will each share the information and support at least 15 teachers and other professionals from at least 5 ECEC settings in each project country.For approximately half a school year (6-7 months), use of the tools will be piloted in at least 5 ECEC settings per project country. During the piloting, regular monthly monitoring and support will be provided by the trainers and partners’ experts. Based on the feedback from pilots and monitoring observations, the final versions of the tools will be developed.Through series of 3-day information sharing and dissemination events, 1-day advocacy round-table in each partner country and final conference with different stakeholders, we will ensure the development of the learning community of different stakeholders to monitor and assess gender gaps as well as the impact of the undertaken actions to reduce it in ECEC.Based on the whole experience and inputs from all stakeholders, we will develop Recommendations for ECEC settings, local, regional and national policy and decision makers to enable and support gender equality in ECEC.<< Results >>We are expecting to achieve the following results:1.Improved skills of the ECEC professionals to close the gender and gender related use of digital tools gaps in all areas determining inclusive quality ECEC as per EU Quality Framework Recommendations in at least 5 ECEC settings/institutions per the partner’s country (Serbia, Slovakia and Italy);2.Raised competences and self-confidence of preschool teachers, ECEC professionals, professional support teams and paraprofessional support teams in the pilot ECEC settings/institutions to monitor and evaluate the change in children’s attitudes about social and family roles of boys and girls, male and female members of the family3. Preschool professionals in the pilot ECEC settings/institutions equipped with tools and empowered to (self)assess gender stereotypes in themselves and with parents and families of the young children (including those with health and ability challenges, from poor, rural and Roma backgrounds who have stronger attitudes towards different roles of boys and girls and male and female family members)4.Established and strengthened model for monitoring and (self)evaluation of the inclusive quality ECEC provision through the gender lenses in the pilot ECEC institutions and settings in the partner’s countries.With our project and the activities, we are also aiming to achieve a longer-term impact as follows:1.Our model for achieving gender mainstreaming in ECEC recognised and recommended at the local, regional and national levels in the project countries2.Standards and indicators for self-assessment and external evaluation of the ECEC quality at national levels include gender equality related ones including gender related access and use of digital tools3.Initial training and in-service professional development of ECEC teachers and practitioners include toolkits, guidelines and competence/self-confidence building methods for (self)assessment of (un)conscious gender bias as recommended material for all future and current ECEC Managers, teachers and professional support teams’ members in the project countries4.Recommendations for gender mainstreaming and importance of gender and gender related gaps in access to and use of digital tools gaps closing in ECEC influence local, national and European policy making for inclusive quality ECEC"

The overall aim of the project is to introduce and enhance an innovative model of learning based on exchanges between Program (Netherlands and Belgium) and Partner Countries (Serbia and Albania), learning mobility and cooperation between youth CSOs and non-formal education providers. This has been achieved through piloting a new Aflateen+ Program for Girls in Serbia and Albania, developed by the Dutch partner and sharing the Belgian experience in mobilising and empowering youth to become peer educators, thus strengthening non formal education in Partner Countries. Piloting the new program for social and financial education of girls in the Balkans has given the Dutch partner data to finalise its program to be used globally. Belgian partner has gained experience in working in the Balkans and this has led to adaptation of the training program in order to include the specific environment in the region.The most important distinctive feature of GIRLACT project has been the synergy of social and entrepreneurial competencies, applying innovative and active pedagogic approaches, including peer training and horizontal learning models. In its implementation, the action has been promoting civic, inter-cultural, social and relational competences, mutual understanding and respect, and ownership of democratic values and fundamental rights, enhancing critical thinking, financial and cyber literacy. Addressing the increasing diversity of learners and access to good quality inclusive mainstream education and training for all, including girls, while tackling discrimination, bullying, violence and stereotypes was the basis for promotion of active citizenship in learning. Introducing and strengthening financial literacy, entrepreneurial skills, planning, saving, investing and budgeting enabled both young people and youth workers to make much more feasible and realistic plans for their actions. This made the action unique in its effort to promote/implement integrative peer learning model for supporting individual entrepreneurial initiatives with increased awareness of their social impact on the community and society. The specific objectives to: 1. Design relevant innovative and flexible models of learning aimed at acquiring/improving employability skills of young people, especially girls; 2. Raise capacities of youth CSOs and provide them with tools necessary for delivery of a new form of training based on non-formal flexible learning methods, learning mobility, virtual cooperation and OER; 3. Launch, test and implement new practical training schemes based on learning mobility aimed at improving participants' level of competences and fostering their active participation in society; and 4. Strengthen the influence of youth CSOs in advocating for validation and recognition of competences acquired through non-formal learning, have all been met. The main activities held were:1. Development of the analysis of the gaps in social and financial education of young people in Albania and Serbia2. Development of the toolkit for social and financial education of young people, especially girls in Albania and Serbia3. Development of the curriculum for peer training in Albania and Serbia4. Development of the online training material 5. 6-day information sharing training sessions on the material developed in Albania and Serbia6. Local 3-day training sessions in Albania and Serbia7. Advocacy round-tables in Albania and Serbia 8. Development of the recommendations for the policies and practices in youth education 9. Development of the evaluation of the impact of the training programmes and learning models for Albania and Serbia10. Youth Workers' study visits to the Netherlands and Belgium11. Youth exchange visits to Serbia and Albania12. Final Conference

<< Objectives >>The aim of PATHWAYS is to foster a holistic or whole approach to children’s wellbeing through high-quality ECEC services that have the capacity to create inclusive, digital and green environments. The vision is that of acknowledging the uniqueness of each child and who is considered to be an active member of the community. The key message is that “ECEC services can complement the family and offer support as well as additional opportunities to parents and children” (Key Principles, 2014).<< Implementation >>Partners will respond to the need of developing high-quality ECEC systems by 1. enhancing ECEC professionals’ skills and competences to promote parents’ empowerment and engagement in children's education, 2. designing learning activities that foster the inclusion of all children and their holistic development,3. creating synergies with the professional community that gravitates around early childhood development based on cooperation, trust, and solidarity.<< Results >>PAVING THE WAY: online Training Curriculum to improve skills and competences of ECEC professionals in collaborating with parents/guardians;PATHWAYS FOR EDUCATORS AND PARENTS: Compendium of learning activities – a collection of 30 activities to be piloted in 4 countries by ECEC professionals and parents;LESSONS ON THE WAY: Impact Assessment Report analysing the data on the piloting;MULTIPLYING PATHWAYS on how stakeholders can further support the meaningful cooperation between the 2 actors.