The implementation and assessment of evidence-based pedagogical interventions for school children (aged 6 to 10) and an in-service training model for primary school teachers, while valuing non-formal education through artistic, playful and creative education initiatives in primary schools. Children’s perspectives and voices are at the center of the interventions.
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
As a representative of an organization, in partnership with other organisations
Name of the organisation(s): ProChild CoLAB Against poverty and social exclusion Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Ana Last name of representative: Justino Gender: Female Nationality: Portugal Function: CEO Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Campus de Azurém Town: Guimarães Postal code: 4804-533 Country: Portugal Direct Tel:+351 932 143 837 E-mail:geral@prochildcolab.pt Website:https://prochildcolab.pt/
Name of the organisation(s): Fraterna (Porta7) Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Paula Last name of representative: Oliveira Gender: Female Nationality: Portugal Function: Director Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: R. de Vila Verde, 4810-430 Guimarães Town: Guimarães Postal code: 4810-430 Country: Portugal Direct Tel:+351 253 511 400 E-mail:fraterna@fraterna.org Website:http://www.fraterna.org/
URL:https://www.instagram.com/prochild.colab/ Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): https://www.linkedin.com/in/prochild-colab-against-poverty-and-social-exclusion-3769b818a/
The “School Upside Down”, addressed the issues related to children’s behavioral problems, social and emotional difficulties and bullying situations, identified by primary school teachers and assistants at the school. Through different actions, such as the design and implementation of activities with primary school children to recognize the school as a physical and relational space; the design and implementation of activities aiming at identifying the interests and expectations of children regarding the school's spaces and the support of children in the design and execution of projects in their schools.
The school playground was selected both as a mean and an end to the project goals.
The project main goals are:
Implement models of non-formal education in promoting children’s social and personal skills, through plastic expression and the relationship with space.
Reflect on different ways of designing and organizing the school.
Promote personal and emotional skills in children.
Promote the active participation of children in the school environment, enhancing their perspective and decision-making capacity.
Promote a participatory environment at school, involving children, professionals, families, among other elements of the community.
Designing and upgrading the school space from the perspective of the child's development and well-being.
Recognizing the school as a physical and relational space
Design and implement an emotional tutoring system for children from different levels of education.
Design and implement a training plan for education professionals in the field of non-formal education.
Non-formal education
Social participation
Social competences
Socio-spatial competences
Creativity
The project was conceived with the primary school and local entities to respond to needs previously identified. On both implementations circular economy principles were applied by using materials that had been previously used, for example, in making the models of the school, where children and their families were asked to gather several materials at home and bring them to school. The same principle was used in the Christmas kit (as observed in the portfolio of the project attatched in this application), a proposal of home made toys that could be done with only materials everyone has at home (the first experience was done during the Covid 19 pandemic lockdown). Recicled materials and waste from textile industries from the territory were used in the second school where the project was implemented and local companies also donated dye fabrics waste to built children’s representation of their games in the school nets. Finally the relation with green spaces from the school and natural elements were always incorporated in children’s models from the school.
Sustainabilty of the project can also be observed from it’s continuation in different schools with teachers asking for the project, and with training programs that allow them to collectivelly implement the project in their own contexts.
Aesthetics was always a fundamental part of the project by using visual languages that enhance taste and respect children's views and perspectives. The built of a specific aesthetic language allowed children’s perspectives to be taken into the design and to be recognized in all pieces of the project. This language from children’s perspective also allows their participation and voice as stated in the goals. As for positive emotions, also stated in our goals children accessed their works in a positive way, by recognizing their perspective and by showing them to adults – teachers, school assistants, parents, family and community – during the exhibition, where their work was very appreciated. By promoting collective work, interaction and communication, children’s social and emotional competences were developed, as this was a central goal and need identified by teachers. Children learned to respect different perspectives, to compromise and to work together for a collective project. Finally cultural benefits can be seen in the use of endogenous resources and knowledge from local communities, and from the inclusion of specific elements such as the textile industries in children’s projects developed in the school.
As stated previously, the project was conceived in a particular territory, considered as peripheric, difuse and with a rural and urban mix in its constitution. These features were taken into account when designing the project and school resources and history too. Specifically in inclusion carahteristics the project was focused on working each classroom as a whole, as a collective but also looking at particular carahcteristics from children themselves – developmental difficulties, cognitive or behavioural issues, as well as autism – were always considered when designing the activities to be able to meet these challenges. These children were involved in all activitites in spite of any specific difficulty they might have. Also, the project was developed free of costs to schools or families, respecting the principle that some of the schools and families live in difficult social and economic situations. Equal access in spite of individual circumstantces was always a central concern of the project. An inclusion of activities on children’s rights was also built to assure children knowledge on their rights and their role in promoting them near adults. Regarding teachers, a training program was specifically designed to support their action, according to difficulties they had previously stated, as a means to assure knowledge to these professionals in years to come.
The involvolment of civil society was assured by invitations to the population to participate in specific activities of the project – for example, building together a specific part of the project or playing together with their children in the Christmas kit(e) – and on actively participating in the school exibition. In the Serzedelo school, for example, parents and grandparents were involved in the sowing of the nets with their grandchildren. Different companies and local factories from textil industry were actively involved with the school project by providing materials necessary to the project goals.
The project has a local implementation and was designed, from the beggining with a community intervention project – Porta7-8G – that already had different activities in the schools of the territory. The school district is also a significant partner on mobilising teachers and the school community to projects that allow the expansion of children’s experiences. The local municipality also endorsed the project from the beggining, especially by supporting the activities and participating in their dessimination activities and on the participation of the exibitions at the schools. These partners also contributed to the transference of the project to other intervention contexts, namely specific schools who needed their classes to have specific interventions with their children. At the same time, the school district also supported the design of training programs to their teachers and the implementation of play structures in their primary schools.
The project team is constituted by professionals with different backgrounds, in order to respond to the diversity of goals established. The interdisciplinary carahteristic that integrates different fields of knowledge allowed a rigorous knowledge of the schools and their children, and was integrated in the ProChild CoLAB axes of Development and Education and of Social Participation. The need for a multi-level knowledge and experts from different fields of knowledge, namely, sociology of childhood, visual arts, social workers, educational experts, psychology, primary school teachers who participated in the different stages of the process was felt by the complexity of needs that teachers identified.Psychology was needed to understand children’s specific carahteristics and how to adress them and on designing work strategies. Visaul arts and architecture were specifically needed to adress the visual and social and spatial competences defined in project’s goal. Sociology and educational sciences worked on centering children’s rights and on defining strategies for cooperative work and team work. Overall, the combination of all knowlege areas contributed to achieving the goals defined.
The project is considered innovative since it was designed alongside with teachers and planned and implmented with them using non formal education strategies and frameworks. Another important ppoint is that the project was implemented during class hours which allowed teachers to participate in all activities with their classes. Valuing children’s competences from their own perspective and not by the standpoint of adults is also another innovation, particularly since the project was required by teachers, opened to change in their own classrooms. Artistic languages were at the centre of the intervention and required children’s complex learnings such as modeling competences, spatial readings of the school and the construction of proposals to transform school, especially the playground. The project is also flexible enough to adapted to different contexts and groups of children, still respecting the methodology and strategies used. During pandemic lockdown it was also possible to work with teachers to adapt those activities. The respect for children’s special rythms and autonomy was also na innovative feautre of this project.
The project was already replicated in two schools always with specific outcomes since the intervention is always adapted to the school and group of children. Neverthless the methodology, structure of work and goals, and the phases of implementation of the project are all replicable. A set of materials – planning, evaluation, materials – is written so it can be used in different schools, in spite the specificities that need to be taken into account in each group. The training program designed to teachers can also be replicated in different schools since the topics are transversal to teacher’s training needs.
The project, implemented in the peripheric territory of Pevidém, Guimarães, mobilized participatory methodologies, guided by principles of non-formal education, centered on children's skills and perspectives, autonomy and voice. Needs were identified by 1st cycle teachers and school psychologists. The project did not work directly on the identified situations, but creatieda global and collective intervention/group that allows changes in behavior and development of specific skills; we mobilized non-formal intervention and strategies that enhance different social skills in groups of children; the intervention focused on plastic expression and centered on recognition and interaction with space. Intervention was also centered on children's participation, respect for their perspectives and voices and on maitaining ethical concerns. We designed a team work model: Weekly intervention planning and evaluation meetings; Weekly evaluations of interventions carried out; Preparation of materials for implementing activities with children; Construction of materials for implementing activities with children; Articulation with different axes of intervention; weekly team meetings. Intervention starting in October and finishing in June (2020-2021, 2021-2022). Team occupation time (at school) – Friday morning (9:30 am to 10:30 am and 11:00 am to 12:00 am) – Group A and Group B; and fridays with one classe of 3rd and 4th year students in the second school. Regularity – face-to-face moments of the ProChild team; moments from a distance in collaboration with the Porta 7 team; Articulation with ICT; Project evaluation.
The project adressed different global challenges on a local level with specific groups of children ofprimary school education. On of them were the difficulties children faced during and after the pandemic, namely on self regulation and on going back to school routines. By working on social and emotional competences these challenges were adressed. Also, during lockdown, the projected adpated to be done online with children, especially with the first school where the project was implemented. The idea to built a play kit at home was also conceived during lockdown to allow children to built their toys at home with their families. Children’s rights, namely participation ones were a key part of the process and children worked with the children’s rights convention and participated in online activities designed by UNICEF. These topics are central at the Europena Strategy for Children’s Rights. Bullying and peer relations were also a big part of teacher’s concerns. By working on a collective project and working in groups to a final puropose children learned how to relate to the other, to respect different opinions and to construct a positive version of each other through the coooperative work put into place.
The project is in its third year of implementation. However, after two years of implementation an evaluation can already be made.
Results and outcomes from the project can be divided into different categories. First, the implementation of the project in two schools, which involved 3 teachers, auxiliary staff, and 40 children. In the two schools, evaluation interviews were conducted with teachers, community workers and children themselves. From these interviews and participant observation conducted during all the process, children's motivation and interest in building their vision of the school was increased by participating in the project; their ability to work in a team; their Involvement with children with greater difficulties in the activities carried out; the respect for others and learning reflection and argumentation skills; the learning processes on spatial and visual abilities; the discussion and reflection on their rights and how to promote them.
From adult’s perspectives, children were able to develop a focused work competence, respecting different points of view, working in teams and contributing to a collective goal. Also they pointed to children’s new competences, regarding social relations and specific skills on spatial recognition, visual productions and commitment and engagement to a project. Children’s participation was also referred by teachers as an important contribution to them. For children, the project was fun and engaging and allowed them to show their perspective on school and on play, the new competences especially on building models from school and on putting up an exhibition that parents and families valued.
As stated in the European competence framework regarding sustainability, the project developed different competences in children and teachers. With the project developed in the classroom with teachers, and the training program we acheived the efforts defined by the Comission as: equip learners and educators with the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for a greener and more sustainable economy and society and help education and training institutions to integrate sustainability into teaching and learning and across all aspects of their operations.
On sustainability concerns, as stated in the competence framework the project and its strategies worked on "Embodying sustainability values: valuing sustainability; supporting fairness; promoting nature" especially by valuing circular economy and waste products from local textile industries and with integrating natural elements in all projects developed by children in the schools.
