The Interministerial Model Early Childhood Center (ECC) is a universal service that offers a continuum of responses and services for children from birth to age six and for their parents. The service is the professional address for treatment and educational staff in the field of early childhood and aims to be the center for assimilating knowledge, training and the provision of tools for work in the field.
In 2015, a guide was published which described the principles for operating the ECCs. In 2022, professionals from the ECC network in the Department for Early Childhood Education of the Ministry of Education and from 360° – The National Program for Children and Youth at Risk requested that the research team at the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute update and expand the standards for optimal ECC operations. The process of developing the standards also included the definition of essential principles for ECC operations.
On the conclusion of the process, a revised guide was written which included the guidelines and standards that were developed, and which constitutes an agreed-on conceptual framework for the operation of the Interministerial Model ECCs. The revised guide delineates the optimal methods of operation required for implementation and is aimed at the target audiences involved in ECC activity.