“One trop of love has more value than an ocean full of intellect” Blaise Pascal
The aim of this project is the development of emotional intelligence of children with learning difficulties through aesthetic education (painting, theater playing, dancing). As emotional intelligence is seen as very important for a better learning success and a positive self-image.
Local
Austria
{Empty}
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
No
As an individual
First name: Julia Last name: Bogensperger Gender: Female Nationality: Austria Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Kitnerweg 11a/5 Town: Graz Postal code: 8042 Country: Austria Direct Tel:+43 664 2457872 E-mail:julia.bogensperger@gmail.com
The aim of this project is the development of emotional intelligence of children (age 10 to 14 years) with learning difficulties through aesthetic education, as emotional intelligence is seen as very important for a better learning success and a positive self-image in the educational context.
The target group are students, who grow up in an environment - in this case a city district of Graz - where factors like unemployment and poverty lead to social discrimination. As a consequence, the social background of these children often leads to educational disadvantages or early school leaving and thus again to a higher risk of unemployment or poverty.
Through different aesthetic methods (painting, theater playing, dancing, singing) the students should gain more self-confidence when it comes to learning and have the chance to express themselves and their emotions in an authentic way. Moreover, they are able to transform their negative emotions towards learning (e.g. fear, anger, powerlessness), change their beliefs of themselves in an educational context and develop important competences like empathy, engagement and action (which belong to the key competences in education for sustainable development).
The initiative provides a cooperation with teachers from the aesthetic fields, artists, psychologists and educational scientists to create workshops for schools.
inclusion
aesthetic education
learning
emotional intelligence
social sustainability
The initiative addresses the social pillar of sustainability.
Empacher and Wehling (2002:38ff) assume these guiding orientations on the basis of which social sustainability can be justified:
1. Decent existence (material and immaterial basic needs)
2. Livelihood security through fair work (holistically conceived)
3. Social resources as opportunities and potential for action
4. Equal opportunities
5. Participation
The key objecitves are equal opportunities and participation. Therefore the iniative aims to raise the learning success of educationally disadvantaged children through the transformation of their emotions with different aesthetic methods.
Through aesthetic methods children should reach the following goals:
- develop, sharpen and train their senses,
- acquire through the differentiated development, use and integration of their senses orientation-, design- and expression skills and learn to be mindful,
- experience the importance and performance of the senses
- experience identity, self-confidence, knowledge of the world and social skills
- and experience their senses as the basis for activity and participation,
- use all their senses to shape their everyday life in a self-effective way, to acquire their material and personal environment, to orientate themselves in it and to experience and form social bonds.
- are able to focus their attention and protect themselves from overstimulation.
- consciously perceive images and sounds from everyday life, music, art and the media, as well as impressions of from nature and deal with them,
- develop various possibilities to express impressions and ideas aesthetically and artistically.
Through these goals students change in the course of their development. The more often they are stimulated to do so, the more manifest the development. This has effects on his personality. Through creative activity, new attitudes and competencies are formed. The students take on a different attitude towards their learning environment and the way they deal with themselves, their teachers and/or their classmates can become more emphatic, more creative, more self-confident, more fulfilled and thus they develop a high emotional intelligence.
The initiative meets the value of inclusion in so far as in the artistic and musical activities there are no differences in language, there are neither social nor religious differences and also the intellectual ability is hardly reflected in the results. The children have the possibility to express their feelings, wishes and fears and to communicate about them. The shaping in the picture or in a performance is to a large extent independent of origin and family background and the visual appearance of what has been created is a universally understandable communication tool that connects the children despite all heterogeneity.
Civil society will be involved in so far as artists, teachers from aesthetic fields, psychologists and educational scientists will have an important role in the development of emotional intelligence of students by holding the workshops. The impact is that aesthetic education and artistic expression in all it's forms gains a higher reputation in the educational context than it used to have in the last decades.
The initiative aims to work with teachers from the aesthetic fields, artists, psychologists and educational scientists, who are part of the creation and implementation of the workshops. Another stakeholders are schools in Graz (Styria), with a high amount of educationally disadvantaged children.
Disciplines that were reflected in the initiative are emotional intelligence, aestethic education. psychology and pedagogy. The expertise of teachers from aesthetic fields, artists and psychologists and educational scientists will be brought together to create the workshops.
Therefore our current educational- and learning processes lack a good foundation when it comes to the connection of learning and emotions, the initiative provides a contribution to build a stable foundation. Moreover aesthetic education and the gathering of aesthetic experiences, contributes significantly to change, form and shape our overall perception and attitude. They are of a fundamental importance in the edcuational context. Thus the initiative fulfills the requirement of being innovative.
The project can also be transferred to companies who want to improve the cohesion and cooperation of their staff or to labour market projects for unemployed people.
Aesthetic education is a method of educational science and refers to learning based on experiences and sensory impressions and the reflection of what is experienced. The learning process does not take place through the transfer of knowledge, but through interactive engagement with media and objects, through sensory perception and sensations. There are numerous possibilities of aesthetic design in pedagogical practice: visual design, making music, plastic design, handicrafts, theater, playing in the sense of Playing Arts or working with new media.
The initiative tackles the problem of unequal opportunities of children due to their social background. As a consequence these children often tend to break up school earlier and have to face problems like poverty and unemployment in their adult life. In order to break this vicious circle it is seen as very important that children transform their attitudes about themselves within the educational context and their emotions towards learning
The initiative fulfills the minimum level of maturity because the methodology/approach is described above and a project promoter was found, who has signed a letter of commitment.
But I am only a privat person that would be very interested in an feedback of my initiative idea, I still have to inform myself about the aufhorisation of the project (at this point - sorry for ticking box 5 below.
