Wellbeing And Involvement Starting with Play (in Early Childhood Education and Care)

The objectives of the project were for Early Years Educators to explore and consider the approach to play, wellbeing and involvement in early years settings in Ireland and Croatia. To learn abou...

The objectives of the project were for Early Years Educators to explore and consider the approach to play, wellbeing and involvement in early years settings in Ireland and Croatia. To learn about the theory and value of play and how play supports high levels of wellbeing and involvement based on Self Determination Theory (Ryan and Deci 2000, 2017). It was hoped that the Early Years Educators would develop skills and competences to measure children's levels of wellbeing and involvement, based on their participation on the programme and that following their participation Early Years Educators would be more confident and empower to promote the value of play and playful learning to parents and the Early Childhood Education and Care community, resulting in improved quality early years provision and outcomes for young children.

Activity 1: Mobility of 18 Early Years Educators and two lecturers from University of Zagreb Cakovik Croatia travelled to Mayo from the 13th -17th November 2023 to engage in peer learning with Early Years Educators who are studying to Degree level at ATU Mayo and Galway. The intensive week included lectures, workshops, visits to Early Childhood Education and Care settings ( ECEC) and cultural experiences. Activity 2: Mobility of 23 Early Years Educators & two lectures from ATU travelled to Cakovik, March 2024. Educators had a variety of playful learning experiences with their Croatian colleagues, including movement , dance, arts, creativity, outdoor experiences , music, visiting Early Childhood Education and Care settings, lectures from staff at Zagreb University and ATU staff who accompanied the group. Activity 3: 41 posters were developed. Each student developed a poster giving visibility to their learning. The posters were exhibited at 2 dissemination events Galway and Mayo. An exhibition of the posters from both Ireland and Croatia was held on ATU Mayo campus opened by Dr Orla Flynn ATU President. Activity 4: Two dissemination events attendance 88 Galway, 64 Mayo Dissemination on university website.

41 Posters were developed, the posters are now displayed in Early Childhood Education and Care settings in Galway, Mayo and Cakovik. Feedback through semi structured interview and 8 recorded videos of educators from Ireland provides evidence of value and learning for educators. Focus groups in Cakovik and the data from interviews in Ireland have been submitted as an abstract for presentation at the OMEP conference in Bologna July 2025. The project was disseminated, poster presentation at the European Early Childhood Education Research Association ( EECERA) conference by Dr Rita Melia and Dr Adrijana Visnjic Jevtic. Conference capacity approximately 1100 early years educators and researchers. Dr Melia has been invited as a result of the project to sit on the scientific committee for the 2nd International Conference Global to local perspectives of pedagogy , by the university of Osijek, University of Ljublana Slovenia and the Croatian academy of sciences and Arts Vinkovci. Dr Melia will also present at this conference. Dr Melia and Dr Jevtic are working on a research paper on the benefits of Erasmus mobility for students to be presented at the EECERA conference in Bratislava's in August 2025.