Since2010, a team from the Escola Superior de Educação de Santarém (ESES) becomes a partner on TODDLER project - a project funded by the European Union (2010-2013) which includes higher education institutions from 8 countries: Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, United Kingdom, Romania, and coordinated by Stavanger University (Norway). Focuses on developing educational responses to young children and investigates different approaches to promote their learning, the project tasks were divided among the European partners involved, according to their strengths and experience. It’s urgent a increased investment in the quality of education response the education of children under 3 years old, which facilitates later learning, especially for disadvantaged children, and promotes a more effective equality of opportunities (Eurydice, 2009). In fact, it is understood that a new law should be inscribed on the concerns of the age group under consideration, the right to a child care service of superior quality especially for children from disadvantaged socio-economic rights or varied learning (CNE, 2011).

Designed based on recommendations from the study of Eurydice (2009) - recognizing the importance of the quality of educational responses from the first years of life as a fundamental basis for promoting a more equal opportunities for all children from the perspective of education for citizenship (www.toddlerineurope.eu) - the project will characterize the reality of the countries involved and the organization of materials for the training of professionals working with this age group.

In this characterization work, fell toPortugal, among other things, studying parental involvement in the different countries involved. Thus, besides the characterization of the Portuguese reality, our task is to study the issues of parental involvement in the different countries involved in the project and also the identification of “good practices” in the field of the work with the families and the strategies to support and involve them; in other hand we were focused in the construction of pedagogical materials to support the teacher’s development.

- Eurydice (2009) L’éducation et l’accueil des jeunes enfants en Europe: réduire les inégalités sociales et culturelles, Bruxelas : CE - CNE (Teresa Vasconcelos, org.) (2011). A educação das crianças dos 0 aos 3 anos, Lisboa: CNE/ME