This session explored the evolution of early childhood education amid global social and political shifts.
Dr. Jan Peeters and Sarah Klaus, EdD reflected on the Step by Step programme, launched 30 years ago after the fall of the Berlin Wall, which introduced democratic and inclusive education in over 30 countries. They shared how trust-building among educators and families sparked reforms, offering lessons for equity and democracy today.
Professor Hasina Banu Ebrahim provided insights from South Africa’s shifting early childhood development (ECD) landscape, covering two decades of policy changes, current challenges, including ECD’s integration into the Department of Basic Education, and the role of VVOB’s Funda Udlale Nathi programme in strengthening the workforce.
This discussion offers a timely global perspective on early childhood education in transition.
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About the speakers
Sarah Klaus, EdD
Georgetown University and OneSky
Sarah’s career spans academia, philanthropy and civil society with a focus on social inclusion and equity in international early childhood. She advises global parenting, childcare and early education initiatives and is currently serving as OneSky’s Senior Global Program Advisor. Previously, she directed the Open Society Foundations Early Childhood Program, where she promoted creation and capacity building of essential national, regional and global networks and served for 7 years as the founding Executive Director of the International Step by Step Association. Sarah is adjunct Assistant Professor, affiliated with Georgetown University. She is based in London and holds an EdD in Early Childhood Education from University College London and an MA in Developmental Psychology from Columbia University.
Dr. Jan Peeters
UGent
Jan Peeters was the director of ’Innovations in the Early Years’ a research and innovation centre at the Ghent University (1986-2018) and did his PhD on Professionalism in ECEC. He was the promotor of several research projects for the European Commission (2009-2018) and worked as a consultant for UNICEF in 7 Eastern European countries (2013-2022). He also collaborated with VVOB in projects in South Africa and Vietnam (2019-2021). He was the president of a working group of the VLOR about the ‘Future of Kindergarten in Flanders’ (2020-2023). He published together with Sarah Klaus and Tatjana Vonta the book ‘ECE in Social and Political Transitions’ about 30 years of Step by Step.
Prof. Hasina Banu Ebrahim
University of South Africa
Hasina Banu Ebrahim is a full professor and the UNESCO co-chair in Early Childhood Education, Care and Development at the University of South Africa. She is an NRF C1-rated researcher with a substantive focus on Early Childhood Policy, Practice, and Workforce Development. She has won institutional and national awards for her research. She has 16 years of experience in Pre-Junior Primary Education and 22 years in Teacher Education in the early years (birth to 9). She has a number of publications and has delivered numerous keynote addresses nationally and internationally. She serves on the SA ECD Human Resource Task Team and is the ECD Knowledge Convener in the African Union’s Continental Education Strategy (16-25). She has led several projects related to the professionalisation of the early childhood workforce. Her current projects include Early Childhood Workforce Sustainability and Systems for Equity and Social Justice.
