Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to present the project Early Childhood Education and Care in Czech Day-care Institutions and discuss current issues of early childhood education and care in the Czech Republic.

The project focuses on innovative research aimed at contributing to the expansion of the topic of early childhood in Czech pedagogical discourse. It started in January 2019 and its aim is to map the experiences of key actors in different types of day care for children under 3 and to analyse them together with current discussions about early care and education in a broader sociological and pedagogical context. The starting point of the project is the absence of the topic of early childhood education and care (for children under 3 years of age) in Czech educational discourse and the professional training of preschool teachers, hardly reflecting experiences of current facilities and its users (children and parents). The project is based on linking pedagogical and sociological analysis and is inspired by contemporary theories of pre-school education and sociology of childhood. Methodologically it combines ethnographic research with discourse analysis.

Apart from introducing the project, our presentation will discuss current issues of early childhood education and care in the Czech Republic that evolved from our introductory interviews (at the beginning of our ethnographic research) with headmasters of our selected ECEC facilities.

Keywords:

Early childhood education and care, Czech Republic, ethnography, nursery.