Ms Sonia Flores & Ms Elaine Tanti
The job shadowing programme was designed to expose all participants to the different cultures and educational systems of not merely, the host country, but also that of the other European countries, such as Lithuania, Belgium and Croatia. Thus, one of its first, immediate benefits was that all educators had the time to discuss their educational setting as well as the different strategies, and methods of teaching and learning, in their own country.
This was due to the various interactive sessions as well as the various experiences in schools around Ljubljana. The week started off with the welcome session where we all began to get to know each other, sharing our culture, and our backgrounds in education.
During the week, we also had the opportunity to attend Step by Step Polygon conference for children with conditions and mental health difficulties. This also discussed the challenges faced by children with Autism, as they grow older. It was extremely informative, with interactive group work, concrete practical examples and different case studies, used to discuss different strategies amongst educators from different European countries.
One of the schools we visited was a Forest School. Here, weather permitting, learning took place outdoors and focused on hands on, nature-based learning experiences. Children were encouraged to solve problems and take guided risks, during activities involving climbing, balancing and moving around safely. They developed creative play, using the everyday natural setting of the forest, with objects such as branches, leaves and stones.
The natural environment of the forest also provided the opportunity for rich sensory experiences. Naturally, children also learned in the classroom setting, where semi- structured activities, such as circle time and crafts activities also took place.
The second school we went to was in the city, but still exposed the children to a lot of outdoor learning. The setting was more structured than the Forest School. Children were encouraged to learn independently and choose to change activities cooperatively. During free-play the teacher did not really intervene and the children could either choose to continue playing with the same toys, or together, decide to clean up and change activity. Children had a longer day at school because parents could choose to leave them at school, until 5.00pm. Children were also provided with breakfast, snacks and lunch. They ate very healthy food, including soups, fish and vegetables. We also assisted the teachers in taking the children for an outing to a theater. Children put on raincoats, and we walked in the rain and caught the public transport to the venue. Kindergarten is not free, and parents need to pay.
During the course of the week, we were also asked to give a presentation of good practice, in teaching and learning, in our field. We choose storytelling, since educators often use the interactive whiteboard, rather than a physical book. Our objectives were language acquisition including new vocabulary, listening skills, topic maintenance, attention and sitting tolerance, imagination, creativity and role-play and reasoning skills. While presenting the strategies to the other educators, we suggested the following methods for engaging students.
- Big books
- Interactive boards to help children visualize the story
- Puppets
- Dress up materials
- Props
- Using real objects used in the story
- Movement and sounds
CONCLUSION
To conclude, we found that, in Slovenia, children were encouraged to be more independent and allowed to communicate more freely. Other differences included more exploration and use of outdoor environments and more structured risk taking. Children were comfortable and confident enough to interact with us, even though they couldn’t communicate with us in English. They were very well-behaved, despite the increased independence; There were no interactive whiteboards in the classrooms and movement was a big part of their day and not limited to break time.
OTHER FINDINGS
Neuro-divergent children did not have the individualized help and support that we find in Malta. We observed less children with specific needs or learning difficulties in the classrooms. In the schools we went to, children were not formally assessed, and classroom educators were assigned and worked accordingly depending on the needs of the children. We also observed that children with more severe needs are grouped together in one class and educators work together as a team to take care of their learning.
Click on the following link to download a presentation of our activities:
Presentation – Job Shadowing Slovenia
This mobility was made possible thanks so St Nicholas College Accredition Grant, co-funded by the European Union.
St.Nicholas College Malta 