About us

UC Leuven-Limburg has the largest teacher training in Early Childhood Education in Flanders, with almost 1000 students and 60 lecturers. This training institution is structural linked with more than 100 pre-schools in Flanders between whom there is an exchange of students, collaboration in professional learning communities (PLCs) and a common responsibility to guide and evaluate the preservice teachers. All preschool teachers practice in different contexts, like rural and urban contexts, contexts with less or more deprivation. The Erasmus + project Playing-2-gether belongs to the expertise centre Education and Development of UCLL

Hogeschool iPabo is a university for teacher training in early childhood education and primary education. This university offers training for both pre-service and in-service teachers from Associate to Master’s degree. There are about 1100 students and 60 lecturers. Hogeschool iPabo works in close collaboration with pre-schools and schools in the area of Amsterdam and its surroundings, both in urban and rural communities. The preschool included in the Erasmus+ project Playing-2-gether in class is situated in the context of Amsterdam and has a superdiverse population. The project is part of the Research Centre of Hogeschool iPabo, Play-based and design-based learning.

The Academy of Primary Education as a part of NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences, offers teacher training for both pre-service and in-service teachers from Associate to Master’s degree at 5 locations in the Netherlands (Leeuwarden, Groningen Emmen, Assen and Meppel) on a national, international and academic basis. There are about 2300 students and 155 lectures. The working area of the Academy of Primary Education NHL Stenden is in the northern part of the Netherlands and consists of urban and rural areas. The Erasmus+ project Playing-2-gether in class is part of the professorship Early Childhood NHL Stenden.

School of Education of Polytechnic Institute of Porto (ESE-IPP), offers a range of undergraduate and master programs, in the field of Teacher Education and Social Education, but also in other convergent areas, and a joint doctoral degree in Education (with the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain). ESE-IPP has also several in-service education programs for several professionals, including early childhood teachers. The institution has been an active participant in EU programmes since 1986 and is involved in all aspects of teacher education, having long established cooperation protocols with schools and HE institutions both regionally and internationally.

Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra (UKF) is a public institution of higher education oriented on areas of educational, social, natural sciences and humanities. The university provides tertiary education at 5 faculties (Faculty of Education, Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Central European Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences and Healthcare). It is the 4th biggest university in Slovakia with over 10 000 students in full and part time study forms. At present, UKF offers 2108 study programmes in the three levels of study. 1891 study programmes of teacher-training study in the first and second study levels are made up by a combination of 25 subjects in teaching academic subjects, vocational subjects, and practical training. Faculty of Education provides early childhood education in preschool and elementary bachelor study programme and cooperates with preschool institutions in the region by organizing teacher students practice, preparing workshops and conferences for pre-service and in-service teachers. We cooperate with methodical centers and municipality in order to ensure innovations at preschool. On national level, we organize conferences, do research in the area of early childhood and preschool age.