Efthymia Penderi is currently working as Assistant Professor in Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Education Sciences in Early Childhood. She had worked as a kindergarten teacher for over 20 years. Her research interests regard the sociopedagogical role of the school, sociocultural learning, pre-primary education curricula and quality, professional development, school-parent-community partnerships, children’s participation and inclusive pedagogy. She has participated in national and European Research Projects such as Thalis, CARE, ISOTIS and PARTICIPA. She has leaded the scientific team that developed the new curriculum for the pre-primary education and the relevant in-service training program (Institute of Educational Policy: MIS 5035542 and MIS 5035543 respectively). She was a member of the scientific committee of IEP with Professor Alexiou and they have developed the Initial Training for the pilot introduction of the English language in the pre-primary school. She is a member of the scientific team of the EAN project, that focuses on the training of pre-primary and English teachers regarding the introduction and monitoring of EFL in the pre-primary school.