State Institute for Early Education

The Bavarian Staatsinstitut für Frühpädagogik (State Institute of Early Childhood Research), Germany (IFP) is a research centre focusing on innovative projects in early childhood education, research into early learning, and knowledge transfer for practitioners and policy-makers. The IFP has strong links with other research institutes and specialist institutions at the national, European and international level. The main goals of the IFP are:

• To conduct basic and applied research in the fields of developmental psychology and pedagogy, with particular reference to centre-based early childhood education and care,
• To develop, evaluate and disseminate innovatory approaches in early childhood education and for work with children with special needs,
• To develop strategies for promoting co-operation between kindergartens, families, schools and other facilities,
• To develop and evaluate strategies for improving the initial education/training and continuing professional development of early years personnel.