"TWI
FOR THE CHILDREN"
EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOP
FOR
TEACHERS IN KOSOVO
19
-20 March
2005
Ferizaj, Kosovo
This
page provides the aim, purpose and background for the TWI for the Children
sponsored Educational Training seminar in Mitrovica, Kosovo. A
one-day Educational Workshop was presented in Pristina,
Kosovo.
READ SUMMARIES OF THE TRAINING SEMINAR AND WORKSHOP CONDUCTED IN MARCH 2005.
AIMS
OF THE PROJECT
The
main aim of the Educational Seminar is to empower and educate teachers
to
create a safe, stimulating and pro-social atmosphere for the whole school and
classes and to provide support for children in need. Targeted children include
children of war and adversity, children with learning and emotional problems,
and their peers in the school system.
The seminar provides teachers with
methods and skills for:
-
Creating a school environment that fosters learning relevant skills for
the future and encourages the intellectual and psychosocial growth of each
child.
-
Identifying and providing support to children in
need through interpersonal contacts with the child, learning assistance,
teaching methods, etc.
-
Cooperating with parents.
PHILOSOPHY
OF THE WORKSHOP
The
seminar aims to improve the psychosocial functioning of the school, to create a
safe, supportive and motivating environment for all students, and to provide in
the frame of the school some basic educational and psychosocial assistance to
children with special needs. The goal is to protect and promote children's
well-being in the school environment in general and to contribute to the social
reconstruction and development of the country by creating a higher quality of
functioning at the most universal social system - the primary school, involving
all children aged 7 to 15.
Being
aware that not many traumatized children and children with learning
problems
will avail themselves of mental health services, the intention of the seminar is
to equip teachers with some skills for helping children with special needs
appropriate for use in the school setting.
The
seminar for teachers is participative and interactive and usees the same
kinds of multi-modal teaching techniques that are proposed for the teachers to
use with their students.
Participants:
We
hosted teachers from Kosovo and local trainers – pedagogues
(counselors) & mental health
professionals
Lecturer:
Ms
Bonnie Miller (London, UK) Sponsored by a grant from TWI for the Children, Inc.
Duration:
The
seminar lasted a full day.
Place:
Mitrovica,
Kosovo
Workshop
Methodology :
- Short lectures, power point
presentations, video presentations
- Discussion, group work
- Evaluation of seminar
Workshop
Content :
The
main topics treated in the seminar were:
- The
psycho-social and educational role of the school system and its teachers for
all children and especially for children at risk and for those with learning
and psycho-social problems
- Emotional
intelligence and life skills for children
- Learning
difficulties
- Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Teamwork
with parents
Deliverables--
All
participants received:
·
“Connecting
with Children in the Classroom:
Manual for Teachers”
- “Communicating
with Children: Manual for Parents”
- “I
Can Learn” – video on learning disabilities and attention deficit
disorder --
one per school
- “I
Can Learn” –accompanying guidebook for teachers
BENEFICIARIES
AND PARTICIPANTS
·
Direct beneficiaries
- Local trainers
- Primary school teachers
·
Indirect
beneficiaries
-
Twenty-five
schools, many from areas where children are most vulnerable
-
Approximately 8,000 primary
school children
(each teacher teaches at least 30 children in the classroom)
-
Children’s parents
BACKGROUND
JUSTIFICATION
In
Kosovo, a decade of discrimination, ethnic conflicts, violence, destruction, and
forced dislocation produced a huge number of traumatized persons, among them
many children. The capacity of parenting was affected by losses, war horrors,
and exile of hundreds of thousands of people.
Social systems and humanitarian services were destroyed. The
post-conflict situation has not yet resulted in the expected improvement.
Poverty, unemployment, and other social problems continue to be evident.
Depression and the feeling of hopelessness often accompany these processes.
Services and social structure continue to be very slow in reconstruction;
they are often dysfunctional and corrupted.
In
the region there is a severe shortage of mental health professionals who could
help children with psychosocial and learning disorders.
Only a small number of children affected by war, poverty, and emotional
and learning problems receive mental health services or specialized educational
services because the population is not socialized to seeking professional help.
Sometimes it is even considered as shameful to visit a psychologist or
psychiatrist because of the social stigma of psychological problems or the
parents’ fear of being blamed for not effectively fulfilling their parenting
role. In addition, people lack money to pay for travel costs and often
they are so overwhelmed by existential problems that children’s mental health
difficulties are not a top priority. For
these reasons, teachers need to fill in to address the psychosocial and learning
needs of children. In addition,
they can provide support to parents to help their children in areas of learning,
self-esteem, and social relationships.
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Updated:
3/23/2005