Introduction conference of the Erasmus+ project “Keep Educating Yourself” (KEY) was held

A two-day conference, organized by the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Montenegro and the kindergarten “Ljubica Popović”, was held on March 28th and 29th 2019 in Podgorica, within the Erasmus+ project “KEEP EDUCATING YOURSELF”, one of the newly selected projects under the last Call for proposals of the European Commission for Erasmus+ Capacity Building projects in the field of higher education.
The conference was opened by representatives of the Ministry of Education, the National Erasmus+ Office in Montenegro and the Rectorate of the University of Montenegro.

The aim of the project, implemented by partner institutions from 6 countries (Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania and the United Kingdom) is to develop and improve the continuing professional development (CPD) of preschool teachers in Serbia and Montenegro, to establish life-long learning centers for preschool teachers, as well as to increase visibility of these centers at the regional level. The added value of the project, which is one of the long-term goals, is the strengthening of the role of preschool teachers in the public.
The conference was aimed at pointing out the significance of continuing professional development (CPD) of preschool teachers, in order to enable them to successfully perform all the duties of preschool teachers, and it also emphasized the need for increased scope of practical activities within the study programmes, since ideas and solutions that can be applied in everyday work are needed.

On the occasion, examples of preschool education study programmes of EU partners (UK, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania), the results of a comparative analysis of the current situation in Serbia and Montenegro, as well as the results of a comparative analysis conducted with EU partners and the results of the analysis of a catalogue of programmes related to professional development in early years education and preschool education were presented.