Scientific Assistant and holds responsibility for further education and practical projects ECEC
Annika Butters has been working in the field of early childhood for 20 years. After completing her studies in Education and Psychology, she went on to work for several years in vocational training and education. In this capacity, she made a significant contribution to the development of higher vocational education in operation at the time. Her enthusiasm for the topic of early childhood education and care led her to the Marie Meierhofer Institute in 2016. Since then, she has been working there as a consulter, project manager and education officer. Thematically, she has covered the diverse topics of early childhood education and care. One of her main areas of focus is quality in early childhood services. Within the framework of the quality initiative in the canton of Zurich, she has provided guidance to many daycare centres through their process of quality development. The transfer of theory and knowledge into practice to create good developmental conditions for young children is one of her central concern.
Scientific Assistant
Arna Villiger graduated from the Zurich University of Teacher Education with a degree in Primary Education. She then obtained a master’s degree in “Early Childhood Studies” from the Thurgau University of Teacher Education and the University of Constance. She immersed herself in the topics of early help and prevention for families under stress.
Her work first took her to the primary school sector, where she worked as a school teacher for grades 1 – 3. After completing her master’s degree, she worked in research, looking into the effectiveness of prevention programs, and in the joint project between kibesuisse, QualiKita and the MMI, the “Quality Initiative in Family Complementary early childhood education and care in the Canton of Zurich”, where she worked as project co-ordinator. At the MMI, Arna Villiger works in the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC) and is mainly responsible for the further development and implementation of the learning stories-approach, and for the network “Bildungsort Kita”.
This chapter discusses early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Switzerland, in line with the focus of this year’s CIDREE yearbook. The first part gives an overview of the situation in Switzerland. The “Quality Initiative in the Canton of Zurich” is then presented, a project that aimed to introduce and/or improve “quality for the child’s well-being” in the field of ECEC. Based on the findings from this project, nine success factors for developing high quality in day-care centres were identified and are explained in the conclusion.
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