Step by Step

Description

Step by Step is a learner centered program which promotes modern teaching approaches suitable for Early Childhood Development. The program aims to provide professional development opportunities for educators and teachers, to ensure easier access to new working methods in the classroom and in cooperation with families and with the community, in order to offer new information on education in early childhood and to enable them to exchange experiences with their colleagues both at home and abroad. In this program, children benefit from the new affirmative approach in the classroom, they are active, enjoy freedom of expression and their interests and wishes are fully respected.

The Program was developed in 1994 by the Georgetown University in Washington DC with funding from the Open Society Institute. Today, it operates in 30 countries and is coordinated by the International Step-by-Step Association (ISSA) based in the Netherlands. KEC holds the copyright from ISSA for provision of the Program and dissemination of materials in Kosovo. The Program has nine different variations. It is offered to pre-school teachers working with children aged 0-3 in form of two modules – basic training and advanced training – each module encompassing 24-40 contact hours and classroom monitoring, and the same applies to teachers working with children aged 3-6 and grade 1 teachers. However, there is only one 40 contact hours module being offered to grade 2-4 teachers. Monitoring is an integral part of the Program and represents a necessary requirement for certification of teachers based on Program standards.

Provision of training:

• Training of teachers
• Classroom monitoring and support
• Networking of teachers
• Development of training materials

Main results:

The Step by Step Program has so far trained more than 2,500 educators of pre-school institutions, teachers of primary schools, principals, pedagogues in these institutions, university professors, students, etc. Most of the pre-school institutions are already included in the network of institutions applying the Step by Step methodology. Funding for dissemination of training was raised from various sources including Ministry of Education, municipalities, OSI, development partners and own revenues.