This paper investigates early childhood education and care (ECEC) institutions’ opportunities to build a learning organization and master future innovations by focusing on core components, implementation drivers, leadership, and collective collaborative systems. The paper is based on results from semi-structured interviews with ten ECEC leaders from three different municipalities in Norway that had taken part in the Being Together (BT) innovation five years earlier. Three areas were identified as crucial for the continuation of ECEC teachers’ capacity building: (1) a strong focus on implementation processes and sustainability; (2) transformational leadership; and (3) developing professional learning communities. Potential challenges to building capacity in ECEC institutions include the variety of educational backgrounds among ECEC staff members in Norway and too little time to create professional learning communities.

The being together intervention intends to raise teacher capacity in Norwegian Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) institutions and promote social and emotional development in preschoolers by implementing an authoritative (warm and predictable) adult style in the institution. An authoritative adult balances between building up high quality interactions with children, while at the same time having a predictable structure with clear norms and social expectations in the learning environment. The purpose of this study was to investigate what helped the ECEC institutions to successfully implement the program principles and core components, and what were the challenges. The staff groups of seven Norwegian ECEC institutions in different municipalities who took part in the innovation were interviewed at the beginning and before the end of the first year of implementation. Data analysis identified five success criteria in the implementation process; strong commitment to the authoritative adult style, strong focus on the implementation process, advanced support systems, highly involved leaders, and a collective orientation. These elements resulted in a shared vision and an academically grounded practice in the ECEC institutions. Staff members without formal professional training and a lack of written documentation in the ECEC institutions should be given more consideration in further improvement of the capacity building.

This paper draws on a capacity-building initiative by the researcher to prepare the parents of nine selectively mute (SM) children to take the lead in their child’s change process towards, gradually and in tiny steps, starting to speak in more situations and to more people, especially in school. Egan’s problem-solving model is used as a framework in the parent guidance group. Focus group interviews in the parent group make up the data set for the project, along with the parents’ written answers to questions arising from Egan’s skilled helper model between meetings. Content analysis is used to analyse the data. A common theme among the families is how to find the right balance between supporting and challenging the SM child in communication with others. How to promote greater independence in parent-child relationships is the main question from the project. In SM cases, a close home-school cooperation and a common understanding of the child’s needs are urgent. Practical implications for parent-teacher cooperation are highlighted.

This paper draws on a capacity-building initiative by the researcher to prepare the parents of nine selectively mute (SM) children to take the lead in their child’s change process towards, gradually and in tiny steps, starting to speak in more situations and to more people. Egan’s skilled helper model is used as a framework in the parent guidance group. Focus group interviews in the parent group make up the data set for the project, along with the parents’ written answers to questions arising from Egan’s skilled helper model between meetings. Content analysis is used to analyse the data. A common theme among the families is how to find the right balance between supporting and challenging the SM child in communication with others. How to promote greater independence in parent–child relationships is the main question from the project.