Integrating Home Visiting into Non-Formal Play and Learning ECEC Settings
Description
Far too many young children in Europe do not have easy access to regular and formal early childhood education and care (ECEC) services. Access to formal ECEC is particularly challenging for children and families affected by poverty, migration, social exclusion, homelessness, discrimination, language barriers. We have evidence that these children benefit from flexible, community-based and home-based approaches to support their development and learning. In theTOY4Home project our goal is that more marginalized young children and their families have access to high-quality, inclusive non-formal ECEC. The project is being led by the National College of Ireland through its Early Learning Initiative (ELI) in partnership with Korak po korak – OASbS, Croatia and ICDI.
Our process in TOY4Home is inspired by Community Action Research (CAR). To improve access to ECEC, we will integrate elements of Ireland’s well-established Home Visiting model with the successful TOY for Inclusion Play Hub approach, reflect on its efficacy whilst taking adaptive actions. Play Hubs are community-based, non-formal ECEC spaces that offer play, learning, social interaction and family support to marginalised groups, including migrant, refugee and Roma families. We believe that Home Visiting programmes complement these services by bringing educational support directly into the family home, helping parents build confidence as their child’s first educator and strengthening the Home Learning Environment (HLE).
The project aligns strongly with European priorities on inclusion, diversity, quality early childhood education and the prevention of educational disadvantage. It builds upon the success of the TOY for Inclusion model, which has established 40 Play Hubs across Europe and engaged thousands of children, caregivers and professionals since 2017. By combining this model with ELI’s extensive home-visiting experience, TOY4Home aims to create a more comprehensive and scalable approach to supporting vulnerable families.
Goals
- Strengthen practitioner capacity by enabling ECEC professionals across Ireland, Croatia and the wider TOY for Inclusion network to learn from each other’s expertise.
- Integrate home-visiting approaches into the TOY for Inclusion model, making Play Hubs more effective in reaching isolated and hard-to-reach families.
- Develop practical guidelines and resources that support community-based and home-based interventions designed to improve children’s home learning environments.
- Influence policy and practice by increasing recognition of the value of non-formal ECEC services in reducing educational disadvantage and supporting social inclusion.
Activities
Six thematic webinars and action planning covering topics such as:
- Home Visiting in Ireland
- Play Hub best practice in Croatia
- Quality assurance and monitoring
- Community Action Research
- Working with Roma communities
- Improving professional practice through reflective learning
Transnational Learning Visits in which practitioners can observe successful models in action and adapt learnings to own local settings
Three study visits will take place in:
- Dublin (Ireland): Home Visiting and emerging Play Hubs
- Zagreb (Croatia): Play Hubs and engagement with marginalised communities
- Leiden (Netherlands): Quality assurance, monitoring and evaluation of non-formal ECEC
Expected results
- Improved quality and reach of non-formal ECEC services
- Strengthened Play Hubs by embedding home-visiting practices
- Stronger home learning environments, increased parental engagement and enhanced opportunities for children to participate fully in education and society.
