The first training session of the Erasmus+ EDUFIRST project in Barcelona brought together 40 professionals from municipal nursery schools (EBM) and the Barcelona Municipal Institute of Education (IMEB), including directors, educators and support educators. The session provided a space for collective reflection on the main challenges facing early childhood education and care services in the city.

The workshop was structured around five thematic debates. The first explored the relationship between public policies, institutions and educational practices, reflecting on how institutional frameworks shape early childhood services. The second focused on the role of these services in preventing or addressing child poverty in Catalonia, drawing on the report “La pobresa es cronifica a Catalunya” by 3Cat and the IX Report on Social Exclusion and Development in Spain by Cáritas. Participants also highlighted good practices developed in Barcelona to support families and young children.

The third debate gathered suggestions to improve the development of the EDUFIRST project, while the fourth invited participants to share their main professional concerns and the current challenges of this educational stage. In a final plenary discussion, participants identified key challenges and opportunities for early childhood services, particularly regarding intercultural, interreligious and multilingual diversity, and reflected on how to move towards more responsive and context-sensitive practices.

Among the main priorities highlighted were placing children’s needs at the centre, improving staff ratios, strengthening integrated welfare and support networks, supporting work–family balance, and promoting inclusion and care-centred approaches to ensure high-quality early childhood education services.