About “Early Childhood Professional Learning Resources”

Practice-oriented study texts for teachers and students

“Early Childhood Education Germany – Professional Learning Resources” is a project of Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences (ASH) and Fröbel e. V. The portal offers practice-oriented study texts on a wide variety of professional learning themes, written by experts from the field of early education. The study texts explore the theoretical background of the topic in question and discuss the results of empirical studies or present contemporary professional discourses, concepts and methods.

By publishing study texts on the portal, we are promoting the professionalization of early childhood educators. Until now, the range of evidence-based didactic materials for the training of professionals in the education and care of children in the early years has been limited. The aim of “ECE Germany – Professional learning resources” is to fill this gap. The texts can be used for instruction or independent learning as part of early childhood education studies and training courses or for professional development. The papers published by “ECE Germany – Professional learning resources” are openly accessible and can be downloaded for free as a PDF.

Focus: Early childhood education in Germany

Our selection of study texts in English is unique. Starting in 2019, a number of study texts originally published in German on Kita-Fachtexte.de will be available in English as a free PDF download.

In doing so, „Early Childhood Education Germany – Professional Learning Resources” is responding to a broad international interest in the underlying philosophies, concepts and methods of early childhood education and care in Germany. The English version of the Kita-Fachtexte website thus boosts the international visibility of the German early childhood education landscape, including the basic approaches to education and discussions on the latest topics.

Fröbel is the largest non-profit provider of nurseries, kindergartens and after-school clubs in Germany. It also has an international presence, with centres in Australia and Poland. Fröbel upholds the highest quality standards in early childhood education and operates its own training centre offering further education and professional development courses to the education professionals at its centres. What’s more, with its own research and university network, Fröbel is committed to bringing the worlds of early childhood education research and practice closer together. Fröbel connects academics and practitioners in order to encourage, deepen and push forward the exchange between theory and practice.

www.froebel-gruppe.de/en/

Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin

The Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin (ASH) offers seven Bachelor’s study programmes, three consecutive Master’s study programmes (which build on the Bachelor’s programmes) and nine non-consecutive Master’s degrees. It also has its very own centre for further education. The university’s main study and research focuses are divided into the areas of social work, health and early childhood education. Through a combination of practice development and scholarly reflection, new approaches, procedures and solutions are developed and implemented. As a partner university of the Profis in Kitas (PiK) programm of the Robert Bosch Foundation, ASH designed a curriculum for working with children from birth to age three which can be integrated into early childhood education study programmes.
www.ash-berlin.eu/en/
 

Academic director
Dr Rahel Dreyer, Professor at Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin, Germany

Academic consultant (”Early Childhood Education Germany – Professional Learning Resources”)
Dr Iris Duhn, Professor at Monarch University, Melbourne, Australia

Contact for authors and for questions about the learning resources
Barbara Leitner (redaktion@kita-fachtexte.de)

Kita-Fachtexte is the result of a cooperation between Fröbel e. V., Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin (ASH) and the WiFF further training initiative for early childhood educators.WiFF is an initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Robert Bosch Foundation and the German Youth Institute. The three partners are committed to generating more transparency, ensuring the quality of the services, and promoting compatible education options in the further education system of early childhood professionals in Germany. WiFF fosters the professional exchange between various providers and institutions and supports cooperations, such as the development of www.kita-fachtexte.de, in an effort to create a stronger further education network for early childhood professionals.