Author:
Boca C. et al.
Title(s) in other language(s):
Cresc Responsabil – Ghid Step by Step Pentru
Published in:
2018
Organization:
Step by Step Center for Education and Professional Development
Country:
Romania
Language:
Romanian
Contact:
Cristina Boca, cristiana.boca@stepbystep.ro

I Grow Responsibly – Step by Step Handbook


Tags: Romania, ECEC

To promote child's holistic development and prepare children for the competences needed in the XXI century, Bambi Kindergarten (Bucharest, Romania) implemented a programme to stimulate child's initiative and entrepreneurial abilities and independent skills - autonomy (age- appropriate) in the teaching and learning process. These competences are promoted in the children’s work in activity centres as well as through study visits in the community. For example, when children were studying the theme of Physical Activity and Health, they visited a fitness centre and a stadium which inspired them to organize a centre for renting bicycles/scooters in the kindergarten, including creating a business plan, decorating the rental facility, writing the schedule and rules, using money for renting, negotiating their roles, communicating and interacting with 'customers.'

With these types of activities, children are able to practice a wide range of skills. In these activities, teachers act as facilitators of learning by equipping the activity centers with the needed resources and scaffolding children's efforts. Techers play a key role in organzing the environment, proposing some of the activities, and empowering families to encourage their children to practice their new abilities. Another key role is played by families who become learning resources. By expanding the learning opportunities into the community, children make a closer connection between learning and real life, raising their motivation to learn. This practice can be scaled-up based on sharing this experience using direct approach (workshops for teachers), but also sharing resource (handbook with good practices examples, video, teachers’ and parents’ testimonials).