Established in 1999 within The Netherlands, The International Step by Step Association (ISSA) is an international professional association which promotes high quality education for all children from the very early years. It provides ongoing support to educators and organizations, develops and introduces new materials and initiatives, provides opportunities for professional development, and advocates for family and community involvement in education.
Its core members include 29 non-governmental organizations (located primarily in Central/Eastern Europe and Central Asia) that implement the Step by Step Program initiated by the Open Society Institute (OSI) in 1994. Over the years, ISSA has developed other important partnerships with UNICEF, the World Forum, the CG, EECERA, DECET, Roma Education Fund, and Children in Europe.
ISSA's Values
- Caring for all young children and their families; with special attention to children from ethnic minorities, children with disabilities, or children living in remote areas or in poverty.
- Commitment to celebrate and share strategies from successful programs; support and mentor developing programs so that they may achieve high levels of quality.
- Connections via a network of like-minded organizations and individuals.
- Community which respects the contribution of each member and appreciates diversity.
- Communication to share ideas, expertise, and experience openly in order to advance ISSA’s mission.
ISSA's principles (i.e., democratic values, child-centred approaches to teaching, parental and community involvement in children’s development and education, and a commitment to diversity and inclusion) are closely align well with the Consultative Group’s 4 Cornerstones to Secure a Strong Foundation for Young Children:
• Cornerstone 1: ISSA’S Early Childhood Education (ECE) Programmes ISSA is firmly committed to improving care and educational services for young children in its core membership countries. ISSA’s member organisations provide training and developmental support to caregivers, teachers, school administrators, parents, educational authorities, and other representatives of the community at local, regional, and national levels. In recent years, ISSA has introduced as set of Pedagogical Standards. In keeping with a child-centred approach, these standards offer a unique and integrated set of materials to support teachers’ self-assessment, mentoring, assessment, and certification within the network. These Standards are available for adaptation and implementation in new contexts. ISSA’s Disability and Education for Social Justice Programmes pay special attention to children from ethnic minorities, children with disabilities, and children living in remote areas or in poverty. These programmes provide training in social justice, multicultural, and bilingual education. The Disability Programme focuses on the inclusion of children with disabilities into mainstream classrooms, enhances teachers’ professional capacity, and advocates for the rights of children with disabilities and their families. ISSA’s Parent and Community-Based Programmes offers user-friendly materials, activities for parents and children, and modules for facilitators from the local community to support families in their effort to promote their children’s development and education.
• Cornerstone 2: Many ISSA network members have been active in providing access to and advocating for preschool programmes for children from ethnic minorities (with an emphasis on the Romani minority [e.g., OSI’s Roma Education Initiative] ), children with disabilities, and children living in remote areas or in poverty.
• Cornerstone 3: ISSA and its members continue to build upon the success of OSI’s Step by Step Programme in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Professional development programmes and primary school level methodology have been recognized and included in the official list of services by several ministries of education in the region.
• Cornerstone 4: ISSA forges links with government agencies and international organisations to ensure that successful approaches and programmes have policy impact or become mainstreamed (e.g., in October 2006, ISSA, the Roma Education Fund (REF), and the European Early Childhood Research Association (EECERA) jointly submitted an amicus brief to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in reference to the case D.H. and others v. the Czech Republic). One of ISSA’s main priorities is to build capacity among its members. This includes the capacity to effectively advocate for including early childhood in policies, has been realised through a partnership with the World Forum Foundation (WFF).
For more information, contact:
Liana Ghent, Executive Director
International Step by Step Association
Tel: +36 1 486-2858
Fax: +36 1 266-3463
Mobile +36 20 9911855
E-mail: lghent@issa.nl; lghent@issa.hu
Website: www.issa.nl
