Abstract:

Transitioning to online environments presents significant challenges across all educational levels, particularly within Early Childhood Education (ECE). During the COVID-19 pandemic, the reliance on emergency remote teaching often compromised learning experiences and outcomes. International data from surveys such as ICILS, TALIS, and PIAAC indicate that both pre-service and in-service teachers continue to struggle with online teaching. This project addresses this gap by providing educators with specific, hands-on training. Specifically, our international consortium collected evidence and built six Teach-The-Teacher Programmes (TTT) for pre- and in-service teachers, two for each educational level (early childhood, primary and secondary education). At each level, one course focuses on asynchronous and the other on synchronous online teaching. This paper focuses on the TTT for asynchronous online teaching in ECE.

The study details the systematic development of the TTT program using the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) framework. First, we present the analysis phase, based on a literature review and insights from an online survey. Second, we describe the design process, which drew from academic publications to establish five distinct teacher roles for each modality. To bridge theory and practice, competence clusters were defined for each role and translated into specific behavioral indicators. At the core of this intervention is the development of the TTT program itself. The description is illustrated with examples from the course script and its implementation via Articulate Rise.

Throughout all stages, quality was maintained by adhering to international standards, maximizing survey participation, and conducting rigorous internal and external testing. Academic soundness and practical utility were further ensured by engaging international experts, practicing teachers, and education students. The paper concludes with an outlook on next steps, concretely, the first implementation cohorts and the systematic collection of evidence for program evaluation.

Keywords:

Early Childhood Education, Asynchronous Learning, ADDIE Model, Teacher Professional Development, Digital Pedagogy, Online Teaching, Pre-service Teachers.