Το Τμήμα Επιστημών Προσχολικής Αγωγής και του Εκπαιδευτικού Σχεδιασμού έχει αναπτύξει από την πρώτη στιγμή της λειτουργίας του μια πλούσια δραστηριότητα, μέσα από την οποία διαφαίνεται η αναγκαιότητα της έρευνας και της ανάδειξης νέων μεθοδολογιών.
The originality of the Department is based on two findings:
• ότι τα γνωστικά αντικείμενα και μαθήματα είναι ταυτόσημα με τα φαινόμενα και τα προβλήματα που αντιμετωπίζονται στην εκπαιδευτική πράξη και όχι με τους παραδοσιακούς επιστημονικούς κλάδους.
• ότι, από τη μελέτη της διεθνούς πραγματικότητας και των τάσεων που αναπτύσσονται στο χώρο των Τμημάτων Εκπαίδευσης, και ιδιαίτερα της Προσχολικής Εκπαίδευσης, οι σπουδές που παρέχονται στο Τμήμα βρίσκονται σε πολύ υψηλό επίπεδο συμβαδίζοντας με τις σύγχρονες κατευθύνσεις των Επιστημών της Προσχολικής Αγωγής (νοητικές δομές και ανάπτυξη, ψυχολογικές δομές και επικοινωνία, κοινωνικές δομές και προσωπικότητα, πολιτισμικό περιβάλλον και γνωστική ανάπτυξη, μαθησιακές δραστηριότητες και παιδαγωγική διαχείριση) και των Επιστημών του Εκπαιδευτικού Σχεδιασμού (ανάλυση και σχεδιασμός διδακτικών δραστηριοτήτων σε ειδικούς πληθυσμούς, ανάλυση και σχεδιασμός νέων ευέλικτων μορφών εκπαίδευσης, ανάλυση και σχεδιασμός εκπαιδευτικού υλικού, έννοια και μέθοδοι αξιολόγησης).
Specifically, Instructional Design (Instructional Design, Ingenierie Educative) processes collections of resources and processes that promote learning and is a systematic process for the development of educational systems. It emphasizes the systematic development of educational specifications using learning and education theories to ensure the quality of education and includes the entire process of analyzing and learning needs and objectives and developing a system to address them. This system includes the creation, testing and evaluation of educational materials and educational activities. It is therefore concerned with specific educational actions (or actions) in order to achieve the intended teaching results. Educational design is becoming increasingly important, as the educational process, especially with the use of technology, becomes increasingly complex.
University studies aim to prepare people for their future employment in a sector of social life, the complexity of which requires an autonomous scientific approach.
The content of Studies in Pedagogical Departments is a function of our perception of the place and role of the school in society, as well as the place and role of teachers in the school. As departments that primarily train future teachers of Primary Education, but also executives of the educational mechanism and the wider society in general, they undertake the crucial role of raising their awareness of a set of requirements that are precisely inscribed in the modern formulation of the Educational Sciences, recording the new commitments that they are called upon to make in relation to scientific, political, economic, social and cultural developments at a global level.
To the extent that the Department's objectives are expanded to include the formation of a modern professional profile of graduates by cultivating skills in the design and administration of Preschool Education school units, as well as the management of local social Educational and Training Activities with planned utilization of Information and Communication Technologies (e.g. ability to produce pedagogical material), the professional horizons of graduates are also expanded.
They can, thus, be involved as consultants, designers, animators, executors in the micro/macro organization (from the establishment of goals to the management of technical details) of similar Actions, where they occur (Programs of Ministries, Municipalities, Organization of the operation of Nursery Schools and Kindergartens, Training Programs in Businesses and other workplaces, Lifelong Education Programs, Adult Education Programs, planning of special educational actions and organization of psychopedagogical research on behalf of private and public bodies, etc.)
The Department is organized on the basis of continuous monitoring and participation in the formulation of real problems in the field of education. The Curriculum is expanded to the extent that a new problem arises in practice and the Department has the responsibility to find or create suitable scientists to approach and investigate the specific problem. Thus, students are given the opportunity to choose to a certain extent their own path towards acquiring the necessary knowledge. In this way, the possibility of forming more, but equal in terms of the result, compositions is provided, which will respond to the individual inclinations and interests of the students. That is, students can create their individual Curriculum within the framework of general directions.
Therefore, special emphasis is placed on the institution of “learning through research”. As “knowledge of the ways to access knowledge” is more important than the consumption of “established” knowledge, a part of the studies is provided through specially designed, time-limited research programs. By investigating real problems, in direct contact with teachers and students, the scientific “data” related to the specific issue, the possible scientific approaches, and the appropriate research methods are taught, thus acquiring both knowledge and the ability to think critically. The general effort made in the Department is to train scientists and prepare teachers who will be able to manage the issue of education in its complex synergy with the development of sciences, socio-economic, political and cultural matters. This intention also explains the emphasis on the issue of research and educational planning. The goal is to create educators-scientists with high pedagogical and social sensitivity, so that they can plan, organize and manage multiple educational actions in line with rapid developments and needs.