This message was written by Sarah Sierens and Kristel Detollenaere, language specialists in the teacher training at HOGENT. They found inspiration at Foyer VZW, Freinetschool De Mandala and the Boekenkaravaan of De Schoolbrug during the project Little Children – Great
This blog post was contributed by Nadine Correia (ISCTE-IUL). “This classroom is so beautiful because the teacher listens to children. Boys and girls can choose and do what they want to”(A., 5 years old). Children’s right to participate has gained
Every child wants to feel that they are seen and heard; that they belong. This applies to Dutch children and also, perhaps even more, to children from different cultural backgrounds or who speak a different language at home. How do you ensure that all children have the feeling that they belong in the group?
How should we organize inclusive education? This is a key question in many European countries as they move from special to inclusive education. We would like to introduce the new Portuguese law to you as an innovative and inspiring framework, and describe some motivations behind the law.
Teacher, why is that girl so dirty? When young children make such statements, we are inclined to pass over them (‘she does not know what she is saying’), to blame the parents (‘they must have picked it up at home’) or to quickly and generally condemn these statements (‘you cannot say that, that is not nice’). We assume that children will grow up to be unprejudiced adults if we do not talk about ‘it’. Contrary to what we believe, young children are not ‘colour-blind’.
“When I have something on my mind, I just walk to the teacher. Yes, I’ll ask for suggestions like ‘how do I need to do these things at home? Do you have suggestions?’ Yes, I can always count on her..” – Batoul, parent of Dahbi (4 years old).
