Reflecting Cultures of Education - Transnationality and Cultural Awareness in Early Childhood Education Programs

The aim of the project ‘Reflecting Cultures of Education - Transnationality and Cultural Awareness in Early Childhood Education Programmes (RECOdE)’ was to address the shift towards a migration society and its consequences for the training of early childhood education specialists at university level through the (further) development of an ECE curriculum. On the one hand, universities are increasingly faced with a culturally diverse student body and, on the other, graduates of ECE degree programmes are faced with growing challenges in dealing with a diversity of family cultures in practice. The great challenge for societies is not only to accept this diversity of local educational cultures, but to incorporate these different cultural perspectives into education to create a new common ground for co-operation in education under the priority of inclusion and diversity. For this reason, higher education in the field of early childhood education needs a consistent study programme for basic and advanced cultural competences that includes different cultural perspectives on education along globalisation and cultural heritage.

With the implementation of the project, we wanted to achieve an exchange between the responsible bodies in the field of early childhood education (universities at different levels, work areas) with the aim of developing a common set of tools to promote the cultural competences of students that can be offered to the respective study programmes. Our initial aim was to critically reflect on our own ethnocentric, Western European, industrial society perspective. In a further step, to enter an exchange with European partner universities with childhood education degree programmes on concepts and methods for the further development of these perspectives on education in order to subsequently develop common democratic values and educational concepts for a future global and diversified society with its local characteristics.

Our activities were divided into two strategies: On the one hand, the continuous collaboration of the three partner universities on a consistent programme that should lead to closer cooperation, which should be institutionalised as far as possible, in the long term (Transnational Project Meetings). Secondly, the inclusion of further ECE study programmes at other universities to expand expertise (multiplier events). Further experts were then invited to the multiplier events to broaden the Eurocentric perspective on education. Both strategies are mutually dependent. The multiplier events serve the purpose of exchange and inspiration. The transnational meetings serve to further develop the project results based on the multiplier events. The various activities build on each other. Firstly, the university programmes of 14 ECE courses were analysed, which suggested a proximity to the project topic. In a second step, various concepts of diversity and inclusion were analysed (anti-bias approach, Index for Inclusion, Teaching for Equity, etc.), which aim to include the perspective of minorities. Cultural competences at Bachelor's and Master’s level were then defined and module descriptions were developed and tested using the Master's module as an example. Finally, the materials were collected, systematised, expanded and compiled into a tool kit

The final project results can be divided into four products: 1. a handbook for the internal, discursive evaluation of cultural awareness at the level of university management, programme development and classroom management. Using reflection questions for the various levels, universities can review and further develop their own study programmes 2. a second outcome is a BA module for ECE programmes. In this module, students acquire basic cultural competences for working with children and parents in day care centres. The defined competences and content can also be integrated into other modules as cross-cutting topics. 3. The third outcome is an M.A. module that teaches advanced cultural competences in the area of critical cultural awareness in ECE. The module was trialled in a one-week Spring School with international students. 4. The fourth result is a toolkit containing all the materials of the Master Spring School curriculum. In addition, the materials were supplemented by inputs from the multiplier events and didactic materials from the participating universities Another result of the project, which was not planned, is the implementation of the Master Spring School in the study programme of the University of Stavanger and will be offered annually in the future. The programme will be carried out by the three project partners and other colleagues from the project's cooperation partners.