Training Guide - Introduction and Overview


 

Child-Friendly Spaces Workshop

 

Session Goals:

 

Outline and Timing:

Timing
Activity
2 min
Welcome
8 min
Overview
10 min
Norms
30 min
What is Child-Friendly?
10 min Wrap-Up/Transition to Unit 1
Total timing: 60 minutes (1 hour)

 

Materials:

Poster paper

Marker

Optional: Technology to show online video

 

Preparing for the Session:

Create a poster titled "Norms"

Create a poster with the 7 Child-Friendly components

Create a poster with the daily key outcomes

Have video ready to be played OR prepare posters with Classroom A & Classroom B Descriptions

 

Facilitating the Session:

1. Welcome (2 minutes)

Welcome everyone to the training and thank them for their interest in incorporating child-friendly practices into their classrooms and schools to improve the education of their students. 

 

2. Overview (8 minutes)

Explain the schedule for the next three days.  Consider saying something like the following:

The schedule for the next three days is broken into four parts.  The first part is the introduction to the training, to each other, and to concept of Child-Friendly.  The rest of the training is broken into three parts each with a different focus.  Unit 1 focuses on the teacher, Unit 2 focuses on the Learner or the Student, and Unit 3 focuses on Child-Friendly practices beyond the classroom.

 

Daily Key Outcomes:  

          DAY 1:

          DAY 2:

          DAY 3:

 


3. Establishing Norms  (10 minutes)

Because so much of this training is dependent on open and honest conversation among the training's participants, it is important that participants establish a list of norms on which they all can agree and for which they can be held accountableBegin by saying something like the following: 

Throughout this training you will be asked to reflect on your teaching, the challenges that you face, your successes and the realities that exist within  your communities.  I will also ask that you share some of your reflections, ideas, and understandings with the group throughout these next three days.  Some of the things you share will be personal and therefore, before we begin we must establish norms that ensure that everyone feels safe to share with the group without being judged. 

 

Step 1:  Give everyone 1 minute to come up with a few norms that are important to them.

Step 2:  Go around the room and allow each person to share a norm that they would like to be added to the list.  Write these on the poster as they are shared.  Be sure to paraphrase what you hear to make sure you understand what the individual is communicating.

Step 3:  If there are some norms that you believe are missing, feel free to suggest these norms to the group and see if they agree.  Some norms that are common include : Respect; Be Present (physically and mentally); Build on each other's ideas; Do not take the personal information people share beyond this training; etc.

Step 4:  When the group seems satisfied with the list, read the entire list aloud.  Remind the group that if at any time someone feels that something needs to be added to the list or that the group is forgetting the established norms it is appropriate to bring this to your attention or to the attention of the group. 

 

4. What is Child-Friendly?  (30 minutes)

Before diving into the three units, it is necessary that everyone has seen a definition of Child-Friendly that they can refer to throughout the training as they build a toolkit of practices, actions, and activities to use in the classroom to make their classrooms Child-Friendly.

 

Step 1.  Give the participants a chance to identify some of the components of child-friendly on their own.  You can do this by either:

OPTION 1) Showing one of the videos included here and having the teachers identify some of the changes that have been made at the school presented in the video.  Have the teachers pair up and compare their findings and then generate as a group of their self-identified characteristics of child-friendly spaces.

OR

OPTION 2) Writing out the descriptions of Classroom A and Classroom B on posters and having teachers compare the two descriptions and generate a list of characteristics that make one classroom better than the other.  Have the teachers pair up and compare their lists and then generate as a group a list of their self-identified characteristics of child-friendly spaces.

 

Step 2.  Share the UNICEF definition of Child-Friendly components.

1) Being proactively inclusive

2) Advocating Human Rights

3) Being academically effective

4) Being healthy and safe

5) Being gender responsive

6) Being actively engaged with the community. (UNICEF, 2004)

As a group:

1.  Identify an example of a classroom practice that would fall under each category

2.  Compare the UNICEF list to the group's list.  What are the differences?  Are there any disagreements with the UNICEF list? 

 

As a trainer, recognize that some of their generated characteristics may fall under the UNICEF "buckets".  Help the teachers to make those connections if they do not do so on their own.

 

OPTION 1 -Videos:
Rising Voices: Moving Forward, from Sudan

After decades of conflict, the people of southern Sudan are rediscovering what it means to live in a time of peace.  One of the most immediate benefits is wider access to education, but with limited resources and high demand, young people aren't always finding it easy to catch up on the years of school they missed.

 

Rising Voices: Hope on the Mekong, from Cambodia

Child-Friendly Schools are making a big difference for children in Cambodia: parents are more engaged, attendance is increasing, and lessons are fun.  Improved education is not only helping the country heal its troubled past, but is also creating a possible path out of poverty for many thousands of families.

 

 

Rising Voices: Raising Yusriya, from Egypt:

In Egypt, traditional gender roles mean many women grow up without access to education.  But changes i coming.  Small schools, established with the help of UNICEF, are opening their doors to both sexes, and young girls like Yusriya are grasping the opportunity to learn with both hands.

 

 

 

Rising Voices: Dreams for my Daughter, from Ghana:

In rural Ghana, children often struggle to get an education, with girls missing out far more frequently than boys of a similar age.  But 12-year-old Elizabeth Napari, through her family's sacrifice, is taking advantage of changing attitudes.

 

 

 

Rising Voices: Coming Together, from Bosnia:

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a nation divided by ethnicity and poverty.  But the Dzemaludin Causevic Primary School in Sarajevo has an inclusive policy that is teaching a new generation how to grow together, rather than apart.

 

 

 

Rising Voices: The Flowing River, from Nicaragua:

David Zamora Munoz attends a UNICEF-sponsored child-friendly school in Nicaragua.  While many of its defining characteristics are things kids in some countries take for granted - gender equality, running water, a friendly atmosphere - in Nicaragua the school is being seen as a model for the future of the country's education system.

 

 

OPTION 2 - Written comparison:

Classroom A.  Forty children are sitting on wooden benches behind desks with their exercise books open and their pens in their hands.  The teacher is copying a story on the chalkboard from the Grade 3 textbook, making sure that she writes it exactly as it is written in the textbook.  The boys, who are sitting on the right side of the room, copy what the teacher has written into their exercise books.  The girls, who are sitting on the left side of the room, wait for the teacher to move so that they can see what she has written and copy it into their exercise books.  As she writes, the teacher asks, "Are you copying the story that I am writing?" Everyone answers, "Yes, teacher."

 

Classroom B.  Two groups of children are sitting on the floor in two circles.  Both groups contain girls and boys.  The Grade 3 teachers is teaching shapes to the children.  In one group, the children are talking about circles.  The teachers has shown them some common round objects that she had asked the children to bring from home.  The children handle the objects and then work together to make a list of other objects that are circular in shape.  In the other group, some of the children are holding rolled up newspapers that look like long sticks.  The teacher calls a number, and the child with that number places her stick on the floor in the center to begin forming a square.  One child with hearing difficulties adds her stick to form a triangle and smiles at the teacher.  The teacher smiles back at her and says "very good", making sure that the child can see her lips as she speaks.  A parent, who has volunteered to be a classroom helper for a week, pats her on the arm, and then turns to assist a student who is confused about where to place his stick in order to form a new shape.

 

(UNESCO, 2002)

 

Wrap Up/ Transition to Unit 1  (10 minutes)

Before jumping into Unit 1, before to remind teachers what this training is and is not about. You may want to say something like: 

This is just a brief overview of the 7 components of Child-Friendly spaces.  Throughout the training we will unpack these components further.  Establishing the perfect Child-Friendly space overnight is impossible and even over several years there will still be areas for improvement.  Creating a Child-Friendly Classroom, School, or Community is a continuous process.  The purpose of this training is to introduce you to the concept of Child-Friendly and to help you identify changes that you can make to your classroom immediately to increase student learning but also to help you reflect on your classroom and identify aspects that you may need to work on over time.  This training is NOT about pointing fingers and telling anyone that he or she is a bad teacher.  This should be seen as a conversation and if I any point I say something you disagree with or someone else says something you disagree with you should feel comfortable to raise your hand and respectfully share your thoughts.

 

Revisit the norms: 

This take us back to our norms.  How did we do on this during the "What is Child-Friendly?" activity?

Are there any norms that you would like to add, edit, or remove?

Are there any norms that need to work on?

What norms are adhering to well?

We will continue to revisit these at the end of each unit - but again, feel free to stop us at any point if you feel that we, as a group, are deterring from the norms.

 

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REFERENCES:

UNESCO. (2002).  Embracing diversity: Toolkit for creating inclusive, learning-friendly
environments (ILFE).  UNESCO Bangkok.  Retrieved September 17, 2010 from www2.unescobkk.org/elib/publications/032revised/booklet0.pdf. p. 5.

UNICEF. (2004).  Education in emergencies in South Asia: Reducing the risks facing vulnerable children. Centre for International Education and Research (CIER), School of Education, University of     Birmingham, UK and UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia.  Retrieved September 10, 2010 from     www.unicef.org/rosa/Report1.pdf.

 

UNICEF. (2010). Rising Voices, Child-Friendly Schools Documentary Series.  Retrieved November 18,   2010 from http://www.unicef.org/cfs/index_94.htm.

 

 

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