English summary

We believe that long-term community-based endeavours are needed to equalise educational opportunities for young children in rural communities and small towns. With this in mind, we have devised, in conjunction with the Polish-American Freedom Foundation, a programme For Children that consists of a variety of efforts with a common goal: to support the development of young children in small communities, giving them a chance for a better future. Our experience shows that information, co-operation, skill enhancement and high quality standards in education are central to the Programme’s success.

The first edition of the project started in 2005. In 2006 we continued the training programme in rural and rural-cum-urban communities. Participants were invited to a training course on “Transition to School.” The course was attended by a total of 129 participants: reception-class and primary-school teachers teaching forms one to three, teachers from Pre-school Centres, and a mother who ran a Playgroup for children under three. The aim was to show participants that transition was not only about showing a child around the new place and arranging to meet the new teacher. Transition is a process involving pre-schools, primary schools, head teachers, local authorities and parents.

Programme participants also took part in a “Teachers for Teachers” course. The group of trainees was composed of pre-school teachers, Pre-school Centre teachers, reception-class teachers, teachers teaching forms one to three, and two teachers teaching forms four to six – all of them had been identified as prospective leaders in their communities. The aim of the course was to enhance creativity and initiative in order to improve the trainees’ professional skills, and to encourage the creation of Self-help Groups for early childhood workers.

Participants also took part in the development of a Local Early Education Management Agenda. They created a vision of early childhood services in their local communities, and a vision of the ideal graduate. This training programme benefited to: local education officers, local councillors, pre-school and primary-school principals, heads of other local institutions, local NGO leaders, and leaders of Local Partnerships for Children.

All the communities involved in the Programme developed Local Early Education Management Agendas, which were later formally adopted for implementation by the local authorities.

Database of early education NGOs

A few thousand non-governmental organisations serve young children in Poland, but they are often mutually ignorant about the efforts and achievements of others. As part of another component of the Programme for Children we decided to facilitate the exchange of information among these organisations, helping them to broaden their knowledge of early childhood education and encouraging them to launch collective efforts. This is why we have created a database of early education organisations. The database includes over 400 organisations that offer a variety of activities for children, help parents in parenting, and work to improve the qualifications of teachers and other childminders. The database is growing steadily. Organisations interested in early childhood education are welcome to join in. Our website address is www.dladzieci.org.pl

Young Children in Our Community: How to Improve Early Education

This manual is intended for NGOs, local authorities, teachers and other people interested in early childcare and education. It contains step-by-step descriptions of the community-based process of enhancing the quality of early education, and presents model arrangements that can, after some modifications, be adopted in every community.