Educational guidelines

Steering Documents

The main national documents guiding teaching and learning in preschool education are the Early Learning and Development Standards (adopted in 2009) and the Curriculum for Early Learning and Development (adopted in 2014). Both documents are mandatory for all preschool providers.

The Early Learning and Development Standards define the expected outcomes for preschool-aged children across several domains of development, including motor, socio-emotional, and cognitive development. The Curriculum for Early Learning and Development establishes the theoretical foundations and pedagogical principles for early childhood education. It also outlines learning objectives, examples of activities, expected outcomes, and guidelines for cooperation with parents or guardians.

The Early Learning and Development Standards were developed in 2009 by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy in cooperation with UNICEF and other partners.

Areas of Learning and Development

Two key national documents shape learning and development in preschool education.

The Early Learning and Development Standards specify what children from birth to six years of age should know and be able to do across six developmental domains:

1. Physical health and motor development

2. Socio-emotional development

3. Development of approaches to learning

4. Language development

5. Literacy and communication

6. Cognitive development and general knowledge acquisition

The Curriculum for Early Learning and Development, which is based on these standards, is implemented by preschool teachers. It encompasses the child’s social, emotional and sensorimotor development, general knowledge, literacy, language development, mathematics, as well as health and safety education.

In every preschool institution, teachers and caregivers (teaching assistants) hold monthly coordination meetings to plan and review curriculum implementation.

Pedagogical Approaches

The Ministry of Education and Science is responsible for ensuring the competencies of the educational workforce and the relevance of pedagogical approaches. Within the Bureau for Development of Education, a specialised department for preschool education oversees pedagogical aspects of preschool work, including supervision, counselling, teacher education, preparation of pedagogical documentation, teacher training and professional development.

Although the curriculum based on the Early Learning and Development Standards is intended to be followed by all providers, teachers are encouraged to individualise their teaching approaches in order to respond to the interests, needs and abilities of each child.

Both the curriculum and the standards emphasise a range of pedagogical approaches, including structured and unstructured activities carried out independently by children or with adult support. These activities aim to foster children’s motor, linguistic and cognitive development and promote learning through play, interaction (child–child and child–adult), exploration, discovery and problem-solving.

Assessment

Since 2014, children’s progress has been monitored through a child development portfolio compiled by teachers as part of the curriculum implementation. The portfolio assesses children’s achievements in relation to the outcomes defined in the Early Learning and Development Standards and documents their strengths, abilities and interests.

For children aged 2–6 years, the portfolio covers four main domains: physical, cognitive, language and social development. It also helps identify children who may experience developmental delays, enabling teachers to adapt their teaching strategies accordingly.

However, it should be noted that only children attending preschool institutions have such portfolios, meaning that this assessment tool does not cover the entire population of children in the country.

Transition to Primary School

The child development portfolio is used not only to adjust teaching methods and curriculum implementation but also to assess children’s readiness for the transition from pre-primary to primary education. Currently, the portfolio represents the main instrument used to evaluate children’s preparedness for primary school.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy is currently piloting the Measuring Early Learning Quality and Outcomes (MELQO) instrument for preschool children aged 3–6 years. MELQO consists of two sub-instruments:

• Measure of Early Learning Environments (MELE)

• Measure of Development and Early Learning (MODEL)

The Measure of Development and Early Learning focuses on assessing children’s development and learning, including early literacy, mathematics, executive functioning and socio-emotional development. The Measure of Early Learning Environments evaluates the quality of early learning settings across several dimensions, such as pedagogy, play, inclusion, personnel, interactions, learning environment and parental engagement.

When used together, these tools aim to generate nationally relevant and reliable data to inform policy decisions and strengthen programme implementation, ultimately improving the quality of pre-primary education for children aged 3–6 years. Once fully implemented, MELQO is expected to enable a more accurate and systematic measurement of children’s development and learning at the beginning of primary education.