@inproceedings{01J08SFKWETF44F9NMCECEXPT6,
  abstract     = {{Background: Ensuring high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) is crucial to foster the holistic development of young children, which encompasses the promotion of motor skills. Nonetheless, recent studies indicate a potential decline in motor competence among toddlers (1-3 years old). Staff education is known to significantly influence the quality of ECEC and, consequently, toddler’s developmental outcomes. Therefore, this research aims to investigate the educational trajectories of childcare professionals by screening the curricula with a specific focus on motor and risk competence.

Methods: In Flanders (Belgium) three main ECEC trajectories exist (i.e. vocational secondary high school, adult educational programs and programs offered by the university college of applied sciences). Of all existing programs offering the ECEC educational trajectory, the course content of at least 30 schools will be collected in order to ascertain to what extend both motor and risk competence are implemented within the curriculum. Firstly, all course content will be transformed to PDF-files. Afterwards, a topic model in Python involving specific key terms 
associated with motor and risk competence will be constructed. A focus group with educational professionals will be organised to determine these key words. The topic model aims to visually represent the extent to which these topics are integrated into the existing ECEC educational programs, utilizing a quantitative approach to explore course content through the counting of predetermined keywords. Additionally, a comprehensive curriculum map, offering insights into the emphasis and potential limitations of each educational program will be created.In addition to the quantitative analysis, the current study aims to gain a comprehensive insight into the informal curriculum and current needs within educational programs. This will be achieved through an anonymous survey conducted among both (former) students and teachers of the aforementioned programs. This two-way approach intends to unravel the intricacies of the formal and informal curricula, offering a clearer understanding of the factors contributing to potential developmental delays in motor competence of toddlers.}},
  articleno    = {{273}},
  author       = {{Geirnaert, Laure and Laureys, Felien and Lenoir, Matthieu and Devlieghere, Jochen and Coppens, Eline}},
  booktitle    = {{JOURNAL OF MOTOR LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT}},
  issn         = {{2325-3193}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  location     = {{Ghent, Belgium}},
  number       = {{Supplement 1}},
  pages        = {{273:S75--273:S76}},
  title        = {{From classroom to playground : investigating the educational background of Flemish child caregivers through the lenses of motor and risk competence}},
  url          = {{https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jmld/12/S1/article-p1.xml}},
  volume       = {{12}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}