The Future of Education

The paper is a study of the PreEdTech project, which stems from the COVID-19 pandemic institutional approach implemented by the EuroED kindergarten and primary school, Iasi, Romania, and completed by other experiences and challenges undergone by kindergarten educators from several European countries: Romania (EuroEd and Sfantul Sava), Lithuania (Sviesa) and Turkey (Anafartalar) as well as three non-profit associations with a focus on education from Lithuania (Emundus), Spain (XANO), Italy (Pixel) and a private tech company from Italy (Connectis). When classes were suddenly transferred online, nobody was ready. Worldwide, educational institutions and authorities responded to the COVID19 pandemic in diverse ways. This left few options available to children, parents, and educators, depending on the expertise or experience of the teachers as well as on the available community resources. One of the main problems, though, was that children in kindergarten were left behind as students aged seven and higher tended to be the intended audience for the educational process supported by the education authorities. The project aims to strengthen the profiles of kindergarten educators, empower and equip them with digital and pedagogical skills, as well as provide them with essential and logically structured open educational resources (OER) which, given the current challenges of distance and digital teaching and learning, are necessary for the developmental needs of preschool children. The project assists teachers in implementing cutting-edge instructional techniques that are relevant to the digital transformation of school culture The paper focuses on one of the project’s results – the lesson plans addressing teachers teaching English as a foreign language to very young learners.