Implementation period: 11.2012- 02.2014, Organization: UNICEF
Project value: BGN 96,132 lv.
Team Managers: Assist. Asst. Prof. Maria Trifonova, Assoc. Prof. Luboslava Peneva
Participants: Prof. Y. Stoyanova (SU), Asst. Prof. M. Mutafchieva (NBU), Asst. Prof. N. Koltcheva (NBU), Dr. I. Yancheva, Dr. L. Yadkova, Dr. A. Doychinova
Purpose: Development of standards for early childhood development and learning that cover the main qualitative changes and milestones of children’s physical, cognitive, social, emotional and language development and manifest as different competencies, knowledge and actions. The elaboration of the Standards for early childhood development is based on a holistic approach to child development, reflecting its diversity and dynamics; their content
is based on the constructivist theoretical approach to development and it is consistent with the contemporary experimental data on the child’s achievements and abilities to learn and acquire complex patterns of the world; the IRT methodology was applied for their experimental verification.

Application/Results: The standards for early childhood development are a reliable base for improving health care for children, as well as for innovative pedagogical practice and enriching its content. Their elaboration responds to the need for new educational programs and strategies, corresponding to modern psychological models of child development, with the aim of using the children’s enormous capacity for learning and for supporting good parental practices.