Fourty educators from municipal nursery schools in Vic and Barcelona have taken part in design thinking sessions to improve early childhood education and care services and to imagine new ways of addressing the challenges they face, within the framework of the European Edufirst project.

Between March and April 2026, training activities under the EDUFIRST project were delivered to 40 educators from municipal nursery schools, with the aim of jointly reflecting on early childhood education and care services. This reflection focused on three levels of intervention (public policy, institution/service, and professional practice) through three design thinking sessions facilitated by the Institut d’Infància i Adolescència de Barcelona (Institute for Childhood and Adolescence). The three participatory sessions brought together educators from nursery schools in Vic and Barcelona, as well as teaching staff from the University of Vic.

Following a brainstorming process on the challenges in early childhood education and care, participants identified the main issues (diversity of children and families, community networks, special educational needs, classroom ratios, access to places, recognition of this stage, etc.) and reflected on stakeholder mapping and opportunities for improvement. They also created visual prototypes to represent their ideas, which will be shared with the relevant institutional authorities.

These sessions are part of the EDUFIRST project, which runs for three years (2024–2026). After field visits to each of the participating cities, the drafting of chapters for a forthcoming book, and the organisation of discussion workshops, this third year has focused on training and on preparing the project’s final conference, which will take place in Barcelona on the 21st and 22nd of September.

Read the original article here: Les educadores de bressol de Vic i Barcelona repensen els serveis d’educació i criança de la primera infància