From January to October 2024, the Butterfly Project (Work Package 2) analyzed policies and best practice in Denmark, Romania, and Spain regarding children in vulnerable situations’ transition to ECEC. The project also carried out needs analyses. Meanwhile, the four Danish nurseries in the Butterfly Project documented their own practices for children’s transitions and beginnings in the nursery.

• Relationships between parents and educators
• Relationships between educators and other professionals
• Relationships between new nursery children and their peers
• Relationships between the institution and the local community

These collaborative relationships form the “wings” of the Butterfly Model. Over the three-year period of the Butterfly Project, these wings will be expanded with concrete methods and tools from Denmark, Romania, and Spain.

This plan provides a detailed overview of how parents and children are introduced to the nursery’s physical environment, other children and adults, routines, expectations, and values during the first two weeks. The plan is representative of the approach used by all four Danish nurseries participating in the Butterfly Project, with minor variations. The nursery emphasizes that each child is unique, and therefore, every child’s start will not be identical.

Day 1

This plan provides a detailed overview of how parents and children are introduced to the nursery’s physical environment, other children and adults, routines, expectations, and values during the first two weeks. The nursery emphasizes that each child is unique, and therefore, every child’s start will not be identical.

Day 2

Building on Day 1, we address any questions the parents may have. Together, we make arrangements for the next few days, based on the child’s cues and readiness, and whether the parents are prepared for the child to stay in the nursery alone.

day 3

A repeat of the first days, with the parents leaving the room for a short period, as agreed with them. It’s important that everyone feels safe at the start—both the child and the parents.

Day 4 -5

Day 6 – 10

Day 11 -14

We practice waving goodbye to the parents, who leave briefly. The child can try eating with the other children. The duration of the child’s stay in the nursery varies, and we agree on a time for the parents to return before saying goodbye to the child.

We practice waving goodbye to the parents, who leave briefly. The child can try eating with the other children. The duration of the child’s stay in the nursery varies, and we agree on a time for the parents to return before saying goodbye to the child.

The child’s routine starts to resemble a typical everyday schedule.

The story emphasizes the importance of both parents and children experiencing security and trust in the educator, as it can be difficult for some parents to let go of their child. This is especially true when the child has to be alone in the playroom without their parents for the first time.

We enter the nursery together and sit on the floor. There are a few other children playing. As we sit here, Sarah’s mother gains a genuine and comforting understanding of what daily life in the nursery entails. I play with the other children in the playroom, but my primary focus is on Sarah and her mother. I give Sarah a toy, and we play together. This is where my relationship with Sarah begins. While playing with Sarah, I talk to S’s mother about the parents’ jobs, maternity leave, their home, siblings, the birth, Sarah’s diet, and sleep patterns. We also discuss bedtime rituals and whether Sarah uses a pacifier, cloth, or teddy bear. We take our time addressing any concerns. The parents also receive a small leaflet with practical information about the nursery to take home.

The educators in the institution emphasize that all parents are different. It’s important to maintain dialogue with the parents and assure them that their child is comfortable in the nursery.

The teacher-parent relationship is one of the “wings” in the Butterfly Model.

Sarah has now started nursery. Today is the first day Sarah will be alone in the nursery. It is difficult for both parents. They are happy with the nursery and are reassured that Sarah will be well cared for, but they find it hard to say goodbye. I (educator) take my time in this situation. We agreed in advance that today is the day for Sarah’s father to try leaving. We agreed that he would go for a walk for just over half an hour. As Sarah sits and plays on the floor with me, I suggest to the father, “Would you like to go for a walk now? I’m sure Sarah will handle it just fine, but I’ll call if there’s any issue.” As Sarah is deeply absorbed in play, Dad slips out the door. I’ve previously discussed with him that it works best if the child doesn’t see the parent leave. When Sarah notices that Dad is gone, she becomes a little sad. I pick her up, and we walk around the playroom until she calms down. Once Sarah is playing well again, I take a picture and send it to her father for his peace of mind. When he returns, I tell him that everything went really well. I also mention that she was a little sad at first, but that this is completely natural and that she quickly became happy again. We agree to meet again tomorrow and thank each other for the day.

The Child as Active in the Relationship with the Educator

This practice stories highlight how nursery children actively form relationships with educators and navigate the nursery’s physical and social environment from day one.

It’s Tuesday morning, and I (educator) am ready to greet the new parents and Mark (12 months) outside the institution. The parents arrive with Mark in a pram. I smile, shake hands, and say, “Hello, welcome. My name is Thea, and I am one of the educators in the room that Mark will start in.” Knowing the family is bilingual, I ask whether I should speak English or Danish. The father speaks fluent Danish, and the mother, though she understands Danish, prefers to respond in English. Mark is asleep in the pram while we talk. When he wakes up, his father lifts him out. I smile, greet Mark, and chat with him. Mark eagerly reaches out to me, wanting to sit with me. I welcome Mark into my arms, and we sit together in the conference room. We all chat and laugh at Mark’s happy reaction and his desire to be close to me. Mark and I maintain eye contact and interact until it’s time to continue our discussion.

Play Community between Two New Nursery Children

The Butterfly Model focuses on how new nursery children become part of a children’s community and how they receive care from more experienced nursery children.

Caroline (13 months) and her father sit on the floor, and we chat about how exciting it will be as I (educator) find baby toys. I sit down, and we play with Caroline, discussing that Mark and his father will also be arriving soon. When they arrive, we all sit on the floor. Mark and Caroline are happy and play with the toys, occasionally returning to their fathers for reassurance. While the children play, I talk to the fathers, explaining the importance of sitting on the floor with us so the children always know where their safe base is on the first day. This way, the children can explore but still know where safety is. We continue with small talk while the play between Caroline and Mark goes on. Caroline, in particular, crawls far away from her dad and right into the middle of the playroom

The collaboration between professionals is one of the “wings” in the Butterfly Model.

The health visitor contacts the nursery on behalf of parents with premature twins (14 months). She offers to accompany the parents to the start-up meeting at the nursery. At the beginning of the meeting, the parents are visibly worried. The health visitor effectively supports the parents, helping them convey important information to the staff. During the meeting, we create a plan that resonates with both the parents and their children. This leads to a positive start for the twins, who soon settle into a safe and nurturing daily routine in the nursery. The educators observe that the girls develop positively and show interest in other children. The health visitor attends a follow-up interview three months after the start. The parents, now happy and relieved, participate in this interview.

La Providencia, Seville

Our school is located in a disadvantaged neighbourhood in the city of Seville. Here, we work very closely with the families of our pupils, as we believe that collaboration between the family and the school in the children’s childhood is essential. We work with them through workshops which, as well as providing leisure time and enjoyment for parents and children, encourage dialogue and bonding with the teacher. In this way, parents participate in their children’s learning process.

From September to December 2024, the whole educational community has worked on art and painting in the classroom, learning through painters such as Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, Jackson Pollock or cave art. We have also approached local painters and artists. The workshop we have carried out in November has aimed to create works inspired by these artists, using simple techniques such as stamping, splashing or watercolour, and instruments such as the brush, the roller, marbles or strings.

Finally, thanks to everyone’s collaboration, we have created our art gallery inside the school, with all the works produced in the workshop. Afterwards, the families visited the gallery with their children and the teachers explained in a very pleasant way everything they had done.

This is an action that is carried out in educational centers that are Learning Communities.  The entire educational community: families, students, teachers, collaborators and volunteers express their dreams for the school. How would you like the school to be? It is about expressing the desires that each person has to improve. In the case of teachers, the question would be: How would you like the school to be if it were your sons or daughters’ school?  A commission from the educational center made up of teachers, families, volunteers, the management commission, organizes how this phase of sleep will develop.  In our case, the forest of dreams has been created, each person writes their dream on tree leaves, then families, volunteers, teachers and students hand in their dreams and these are hung on the previously prepared mural. In addition to being posted, the dreams are written in a document so that the Management Committee can organize and categorize them. Once all the dreams are categorized, they are presented to an assembly in which the entire community participates. At this assembly, the dreams that are considered priorities due to their transformative nature for the Educational Community are democratically selected. Once chosen, joint working committees are created whose mission is to plan actions to make these dreams a reality.

How does this situation relate to the Butterfly Model?

This tool promotes the participation of families and other local entities in the life of the center, making the school become a space for the exercise of citizenship and democratic management. The presence and participation of the family in the school institution favors the connection of families with it, turning it into a close, safe and trustworthy space, which contributes to better schooling for all students in general and vulnerable students in particular.

The first week: “Let’s get to know each other”

On a cold October day, A., aged 2 and a half, together with his mother, shyly step into the center for the first time. We invite them to the psychologist’s office, together with the educator, in a warm and relaxed atmosphere and we sit down comfortably. Fear and uncertainty are read in the eyes and on the tense bodies of the mother and child. We introduce ourselves and open a relaxed discussion first about the weather and how the journey to us was, how they found out about our existence and then we lead the dialogue to other information such as family environment, health, expectations and wishes. The educator holds out a smiling teddy bear to A., at which point he releases his arms from around his mother, grabs the teddy bear, gets down and heads, without losing sight of his mother, towards other toys. The room is an invitation to play, with dolls, cars and blocks. A. gathers courage and starts exploring the space. The educator brings N. from the classroom and introduces him to A. The two children build a tower of blocks, knock it down and have a great time. The child’s mother continues the discussion and receives a parent’s guide from which she will learn information about the stages of adaptation, about what she needs to do in the next stage to help the child in his transition from the family to the center. It is an opportune moment when the mother dispels fears and anxieties by asking questions. Then together we start getting to know the space, respectively the classroom. A., accompanied by her new play partner, heads towards a fort where a teddy bear and a hippopotamus are comfortably seated, and the mother looks with tears of joy at the smile of her child.

Second week: “The “Lizuca” Family

October, a time to celebrate autumn, was an important reason for us to organize a workshop where we make handmade ornaments. As in a big family, all the members work, children, families and practitioners. A., together with his mother, skillfully paints a pumpkin, and the mother glues carefully cut leaves. While A. is adding the final touches of color, his mother meets the mother of her daughter’s colleague, N. They share impressions about the center and the activities carried out there, about the educators. As in a support group, the mothers support each other, offer each other help and arrange to organize meetings outside the center. A.’s mother gains confidence, feels more relaxed when she brings A. to the center, and the discussion with N.’s mother has dispelled some of the uncertainties and fears and has given way to the hope that everything will be fine.