School of Early Childhood Education

Maria Birbili (Member of the research team). Project “VOICE” has been funded by the Hellenic Foundation of Research and Innovation (H.F.R.I.) and was co-ordinated by Sofia Avgitidou, Professor of the Department of Philosophy and Pedagogy of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. The main goals of the project were the production of educational material to support teachers and parents in enhancing children’s participation in their own learning and decision-making and the support of professional learning communities with a genuine interest and focus on supporting and realizing a participatory and democratic education. The website with information on the project and the educational material produced is open and accessible to both teachers and parents in this link: http://voice.web.auth.gr/en/node/13

Principal Investigator: Maria Birbili, Associate Professor, Department of Early Childhood Education, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. This research project, guided by a Froebelian understanding of young children’s development and early childhood pedagogy, explored how early childhood educators can improve young children’s question-asking skills. The project was funded by The Froebel Trust (UK) and was conducted in Thessaloniki, Greece. An early childhood educator and 23 children, and their families, participated in this qualitative study where evidence was collected through teacher observations and field notes, audio-recordings of classroom dialogues, documentation of children’s learning and samples of children’s work. Parents were also invited to share their observations from home and their thoughts on the project and children’s learning. Organized in four phases, the project supported children to ask better questions using various strategies, and resources, suggested in the literature and Froebel’s pedagogy.

MEinART bridges creativity and multilingualism by focusing on the conventionalization of gender. The research team of the Laboratory for the Study, Teaching and Dissemination of Greek Language and Multilingualism, consisting of members who work in different parts of Europe as a result of the brain drain phenomenon, in collaboration with experts from the UK in the field of multilingualism and arts-based methodologies, will shed light on under-researched and underestimated aspects of women’s multilingual identities. By adopting participatory arts and technology-based methodologies, MEinART aims to offer alternative educational spaces of empowerment where women from refugee backgrounds working alongside women from the majority population will tell their stories, challenge dominant discourses and representations imposed on them, ultimately rediscovering themselves, re-imagining their lives through artistic and creative artworks, as well as individual or group performances. The project offers alternative ways of thinking and implementing research especially when working with target groups that have been silenced and undervalued. In this context, arts-based research and educational practice and the perspective of digital spaces that challenge conventional notions of time and place and give primacy to creative thought processes can be counter-pressures towards a change in social justice for all participants in this project, and especially towards valuing women’s multilingual and multicultural identities, ultimately shaping a “reverse discourse” that will ensure “self-care” for every woman. Funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation. Academic Coordinator: George Androulakis, Professor, Department of Primary Education, University of Thessaly Participant from SECEd: Maria Papadopoulou

The project Languages for Human Values (GLOSANAX) aims to transform into innovation the research knowledge produced in recent projects of the Laboratory of Greek Language and Multilingualism (ELLMDGEGP) of the University of Thessaly. It is based on the idea that language learning and the preservation of multilingualism can be vehicles for promoting human values such as freedom, justice, peace, and creativity, with three fundamental pillars: respect, cooperation, and inclusion. The project aims to create a dual hub that will demonstrate how research that produces effective multilingual applications, innovative methods, techniques, and innovative language education teaching materials, impacts the empowerment of students and teachers who use them in practice. The impact of the project will be ensured through dissemination events and experiential workshops in four regions of Greece, online competitions and webinars, as well as through the production of open educational content and audiovisual material.  The research and innovation hub will include multilingual and multimedia resources, language awareness and learning materials, language installation-exhibition, collaboration and experimentation spaces, and a compendium of values supported by multilingual ecology and linguistic diversity, accompanied by good practices open to exploitation and adaptation. The hub will have two dimensions, one digital, on an online platform, and one physical, hosted in the facilities of two Project Partners in Volos. Funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation. Academic Coordinator: George Androulakis, Professor, Department of Primary Education, University of Thessaly Participant from SECEd: Maria Papadopoulou

The DIGILIT Kids project aimed at exploring the literacy practices of preschool children in digital environments. The project, funded by the Research Committee of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, lasted for two years (12/10/2021 – 11/3/2023). Data were collected over four months through interviews, observation of children’s free interaction with digital media, and literacy artifacts. The research team conducted qualitative research, interviewing parents, preschool educators, and children, while, in parallel, observing children’s media use with different digital devices, during their school time and collecting their written and electronic works, before and during the research process. The research context was a public kindergarten classroom in Thessaloniki, Greece, with 20 children. The research highlights the need to recognize and include children’s informal practices in the school environment to facilitate infants’ emerging literacy in digital and conventional media. Research team Maria Papadopoulou (Academic Coordinator), Professor, Department of Early Childhood Education, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Coordinator), Aikaterini Makri, Assistant Professor, Department of Language and Intercultural Studies, University of Thessaly, Evi Kompiadou, Dr. Kindergarten teacher, Dr. Eugenia Pangkourelia, and Aikaterini Gasparis, Graduate of the Department of Early Childhood Education, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Publication: Papadopoulou, M., Makri, K., Pagkourelia, E., Kombiadou, E., & Gaspari, K. (2023). Early literacy going digital: Interweaving formal and informal literacy learning through digital media. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, online first 3, August 2023, https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798423118998

Chara Kanari, Antonis Lenakakis: Members of the research team of the ERASMUS+ KA227 “Get Creative with Art Online” [(GCAO), Project Agreement Number: 2020-1-UK01-KA227-SCH-094566]. ERASMUS+ KA227 «Get Creative with Art Online” [GCAO], a two year project which aims to link school students with important artworks in their National Galleries and provide the students with exciting opportunities to explore great art through a number of themes and help the students through these to develop a lifelong love of art. The project is co-ordinated in the UK by the Global Learning Association working with partners in Greece (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Italy (Crewative) and Sweden (CEE AUTO-LEARN) Project coordinator: Global Learning Association (UK). Partners: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), Crewative (Italy), CEE AUTO-LEARN (Sweden)