TY - RPRT
T1 - InScoPe Final Report
AU - Brosnan, Maja Hals
AU - Bach, Thomas Chaisrihar
AU - Togsverd, Line
AU - Bjørnestad, Elisabeth
A2 - Hansen, Lisbeth Nørregaard
A2 - Stallard, Rhona
A2 - O'Donnell, Natasha
A2 - Olsen, Kathrin
PY - 2025/5/15
Y1 - 2025/5/15
N2 - Background: Why did you apply for this project? What were the needs you have addressed?
We applied for this project because it aligns deeply with our professional and personal commitment to fostering inclusive, equitable, and high-quality early
childhood education and care (ECEC). The Covid-19 pandemic impacted ECEC practices globally; this project offered a unique opportunity to explore and
address these impacts through a comparative lens, focusing on Denmark, Ireland, and Norway.
The pandemic necessitated significant changes in ECEC settings to comply with public health guidelines. Research from Denmark, Ireland, and Norway
highlights common trends such as organizing children into smaller pods and restructuring physical environments to minimize the spread of the virus.
These measures, while essential, posed challenges to maintaining democratic, inclusive and participatory educational practices. We aimed to explore how
these necessary adaptations were implemented and their effects on the inclusivity and quality of ECEC supporting children’s citizenship and democratic
participation in their everyday lives.
The pandemic also introduced new complexities in ECEC pedagogical priorities and dilemmas. This project approached these complexities as a lens to
gain insight into how these dilemmas are experienced post-Covid.
Objectives: What did you want to achieve by implementing the project?
Our primary goal was to explore, develop and support professional knowledge and practices that enhance inclusion, participation, and democratic
engagement in ECEC settings, particularly in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. By focusing on peer-to-peer exchanges among ECEC
professionals and researchers from Ireland, Norway and Denmark, we aimed to achieve specific objectives that would contribute to inclusive practices in
ECEC.
We sought, explored and exchanged experiences of how pedagogical knowledge and practices that ensure inclusion and equality were balanced with
Covid-19 restrictions in ECEC settings. By examining the practices in ECEC centres across Ireland, Norway, and Denmark, we aimed to identify
similarities and differences within and between these countries in order to identify core values and knowledges in ECEC practices supporting children's
participation.
To ensure that the knowledge and practices developed during the project were sustained into the future, we aimed to create educational materials,
including videos and texts designed to address the themes of inclusion, diversity and democratic engagement.
A Community of Practice was established to continuously explore, evidence and promote these themes.
Implementation: What activities did you implement in your project?
We implemented a variety of activities to foster collaboration / knowledge exchange among participating practitioners and researchers:
1. Mobility Workshops: Two mobility workshops aimed at creating a community of practice and sharing knowledge among the practitioners. Each ECEC
setting had prepared an introductory film about their setting for workshops held during the visits. The workshops provided opportunity for the researchers
to collect empirical data and to enhance collaboration. Participants engaged in interactive and creative activities inspired by playful learning, documented
in the SharePoint Folder.
2. Online meetings between practitioners and researchers: To coordinate and facilitate the collaboration, we conducted regular meetings between the
researchers, which served as a platform for sharing experiences, discussing challenges, and exploring ideas for each mobility workshop.
3. Meetings between researchers: We arranged meetings in continuation of mobility workshops between the researchers, crucial for aligning research
objectives, sharing findings, and coordinating efforts. these meetings brought different perspectives and fostered a collaborative environment that
promoted cross-cultural understanding.
Results: What were the concrete outputs and other results of your project?
The project has yielded several significant outputs that have contributed to the field of ECEC:
1. SWAY page (https://sway.cloud.microsoft/5n2r6S1G94Lm83T1) with educational material, including video clips serving as a rich resource for students
and ECEC practitioners, offering practical examples and inclusive approaches to ECEC.
2. Community of Practice among ECEC practitioners from Norway, Ireland, and Denmark, which serves as a platform to share experiences, exchange
ideas, and collaborate on common challenges and has facilitated the sharing of best practices and innovative solutions, fostering a culture of continuous
improvement and mutual learning and encouraged critical self reflection.
3. International research group focused on conducting collaborative research that addresses key issues in ECEC, such as inclusive practices,
professional knowledge, and the impact of Covid-19 on pedagogical practice and currently working on producing high-quality research outputs that
contribute to the advancement of the field.
4. Intercultural exchanges and learning that recognises the value of cross-cultural interactions in enhancing educational practices and has enriched the
professional development of the participants
AB - Background: Why did you apply for this project? What were the needs you have addressed?
We applied for this project because it aligns deeply with our professional and personal commitment to fostering inclusive, equitable, and high-quality early
childhood education and care (ECEC). The Covid-19 pandemic impacted ECEC practices globally; this project offered a unique opportunity to explore and
address these impacts through a comparative lens, focusing on Denmark, Ireland, and Norway.
The pandemic necessitated significant changes in ECEC settings to comply with public health guidelines. Research from Denmark, Ireland, and Norway
highlights common trends such as organizing children into smaller pods and restructuring physical environments to minimize the spread of the virus.
These measures, while essential, posed challenges to maintaining democratic, inclusive and participatory educational practices. We aimed to explore how
these necessary adaptations were implemented and their effects on the inclusivity and quality of ECEC supporting children’s citizenship and democratic
participation in their everyday lives.
The pandemic also introduced new complexities in ECEC pedagogical priorities and dilemmas. This project approached these complexities as a lens to
gain insight into how these dilemmas are experienced post-Covid.
Objectives: What did you want to achieve by implementing the project?
Our primary goal was to explore, develop and support professional knowledge and practices that enhance inclusion, participation, and democratic
engagement in ECEC settings, particularly in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. By focusing on peer-to-peer exchanges among ECEC
professionals and researchers from Ireland, Norway and Denmark, we aimed to achieve specific objectives that would contribute to inclusive practices in
ECEC.
We sought, explored and exchanged experiences of how pedagogical knowledge and practices that ensure inclusion and equality were balanced with
Covid-19 restrictions in ECEC settings. By examining the practices in ECEC centres across Ireland, Norway, and Denmark, we aimed to identify
similarities and differences within and between these countries in order to identify core values and knowledges in ECEC practices supporting children's
participation.
To ensure that the knowledge and practices developed during the project were sustained into the future, we aimed to create educational materials,
including videos and texts designed to address the themes of inclusion, diversity and democratic engagement.
A Community of Practice was established to continuously explore, evidence and promote these themes.
Implementation: What activities did you implement in your project?
We implemented a variety of activities to foster collaboration / knowledge exchange among participating practitioners and researchers:
1. Mobility Workshops: Two mobility workshops aimed at creating a community of practice and sharing knowledge among the practitioners. Each ECEC
setting had prepared an introductory film about their setting for workshops held during the visits. The workshops provided opportunity for the researchers
to collect empirical data and to enhance collaboration. Participants engaged in interactive and creative activities inspired by playful learning, documented
in the SharePoint Folder.
2. Online meetings between practitioners and researchers: To coordinate and facilitate the collaboration, we conducted regular meetings between the
researchers, which served as a platform for sharing experiences, discussing challenges, and exploring ideas for each mobility workshop.
3. Meetings between researchers: We arranged meetings in continuation of mobility workshops between the researchers, crucial for aligning research
objectives, sharing findings, and coordinating efforts. these meetings brought different perspectives and fostered a collaborative environment that
promoted cross-cultural understanding.
Results: What were the concrete outputs and other results of your project?
The project has yielded several significant outputs that have contributed to the field of ECEC:
1. SWAY page (https://sway.cloud.microsoft/5n2r6S1G94Lm83T1) with educational material, including video clips serving as a rich resource for students
and ECEC practitioners, offering practical examples and inclusive approaches to ECEC.
2. Community of Practice among ECEC practitioners from Norway, Ireland, and Denmark, which serves as a platform to share experiences, exchange
ideas, and collaborate on common challenges and has facilitated the sharing of best practices and innovative solutions, fostering a culture of continuous
improvement and mutual learning and encouraged critical self reflection.
3. International research group focused on conducting collaborative research that addresses key issues in ECEC, such as inclusive practices,
professional knowledge, and the impact of Covid-19 on pedagogical practice and currently working on producing high-quality research outputs that
contribute to the advancement of the field.
4. Intercultural exchanges and learning that recognises the value of cross-cultural interactions in enhancing educational practices and has enriched the
professional development of the participants
KW - schools, courses and institutions
KW - COVID-19
KW - daginstitutioner
KW - deltagelsesmuligheder
KW - inklusion
KW - praksissamarbejde
KW - pædagogers viden
KW - early childhood education and Care
KW - early childhood teachers
KW - inclusion
KW - pandemic
KW - participation
KW - practices
M3 - Report
BT - InScoPe Final Report
PB - Marino Institute of Education
CY - Dublin
ER -