Early Childhood Programs as the Doorway to Social Cohesion: Application of Vygotsky's Ideas from an East-West Perspective

During the last two decades, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia have been working on rebuilding and improving early childhood programs and policies, ready to learn from early childhood structures, policies, and systems of service delivery in the West, but also building upon their own traditions and knowledge. This is a unique and privileged position of developing new systems and structures, in which the good and useful features of a previous system can be preserved and enriched with new knowledge and experiences from across the world. Based on the legacy of the Russian psychologist L.S. Vygotsky, this volume offers ideas on how this timely window of opportunity can be used for new synergies and partnerships to work for the benefit of children and societies across the globe.