Official bi-national inauguration of the project YALE took place in Poznań, November 24-27. Representatives of all partner institutions took part in the meeting: educational authorities from Poznań and Berlin, Astrid Lindgren Institute for Early Childhood Development and Berliner Kita-Institut für Qualitätsentwicklung (Beki), Kinder in Bewegung gGmbH (Children in Movement) and all partner kindergarten from Poznań and Berlin.
The meeting was devoted to presenting and integration of all partner institutions, practical presentation of preschool education in Poznań and exchange of experiences in terms of methods of active learning, in particular the "project approach".
The first day launched the project with official inauguration in Poznań City Hall, with participation of Deputy Mayor of Poznań - Dariusz Jaworski. The second day started with presenting Astrid Lindgren Institute for Early Childhood Development and its work. The rest of the day and the third day of the programme was devoted to study visits in all three kindergarten in Poznań which allowed the participants to observe the everyday work with children.
The summary of the study visits has shown that the perception of kindergarten has changed, participants stressed in particular the engagement of teachers and parents, transparency of kindergarten activities but also strict security requirements and monitoring. Participants discussed also the possible themes for the next meeting in Berlin - April 2014.
All the participants were very enthusiastic about this first bi-national meeting within the project, in particular about possibilities for future activities and development of their institutions.