The aim of the BE-CHILD project is to support ECEC (Early childhood education and care) educators’ in working with the development of socio emotional competences (SEC) of pre-school children.

Collaborative action research project will be conducted in the participating pre-schools, where the focus will be on supporting children’s self-esteem, self-confidence, independence, resilience and create environment where the children will be able to practice resolution of conflicts, empathy, solidarity and communication.

A collaborative action research is a process in which participants systematically examine their own educational practice using the techniques of research, for the purpose of increasing learning of students, their teachers, and other interested parties.

A compendium describing and evaluating the projects in each pre-school will be published and a toolkit describing good practices in teaching SEC in early childhood education.

Research team

The BE-CHILD research is organized by investigators at the School of Education, University of Iceland, in collaboration with nursery schools, kindergartens and pre-schools in several European countries.

Principal investigator of the study is Jóhanna Einarsdóttir, professor. Other participants from Iceland are Ingibjörg Ósk Sigurðardóttir, assistant professor and Kristín Harðardóttir, Director of The Educational Research Institute, University of Iceland.