About Following Footsteps Following Footsteps are reports of efforts to trace former participants of early childhood projects and programmes. They are studies that follow the progress of the children, their families, the workers, the communities or the organisations five or more years down the line to find out how they are faring. Some of the programmes were originally supported by the Bernard van Leer Foundation; others were not. Some of the studies were commissioned by the Bernard van Leer Foundation, while others were not. Each of the programmes studied is unique, and the methods used for tracing, gathering data and analysing are many and varied. As a whole, the studies will contribute to our understanding of the effects, and effectiveness, of early childhood programmes.
About the series Following Footsteps is a sub-series of Early Childhood Development: Practice and Reflections. The series as a whole addresses issues of importance to practitioners, policy makers and academics concerned with meeting the educational and developmental needs of disadvantaged children in developing and industrial societies. Contributions to this series are welcomed. They can be drawn from theory or practice, and can be a maximum of 30,000 words. Information about contributing to the series can be obtained from Diane Lemieux, Series Editor, Department of Programme Documentation and Communication at the address given on the back cover. Copyright is held by the Bernard van Leer Foundation. Unless otherwise stated, however, papers may be quoted and photocopied for non-commercial purposes without prior permission. Citations should be given in full, giving the Foundation as source.
About the authors Dr Miri Levin-Rozalis describes herself as ‘a sociologist of Israeli society’. She is a faculty member of the Department of Education, Ben-Gurion University in Beer-Sheva and has been working with the Ethiopian community in Israel since the first major wave of migration to Israel in 1984. She is chairperson of the Israeli Association for Programme Evaluation. Naama Shafran is a student in the MA programme in the Department of Clinical Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, having received her BA degree in psychology and Talmud from Bar-Ilan University in 2001.