CHILDREN’S COMPETENCES NECESSARY TO ATTEND PRIMARY SCHOOL

These four skills facilitate the individuals to participate effectively in various environments (learning, work or family environment, etc.) and are deemed necessary to cope with the alternating roles they are called to play throughout their life.

Their development is the purpose of the kindergarten curriculum. But at the same time, as they develop, the same skills are the means to achieve other goals and objectives of the curriculum. Finally, abilities are interconnected as the development of one supports or depends on the development of the other.

COMMUNICATION

Communication is defined as the exchange of thoughts, messages and information using oral speech, reading and writing. Because it is possible that through their family environment not all children are familiar with the same communication practices, teachers need to continuously provide opportunities to all pupils and to explore and discover different forms of communication. At the same time, they strengthen children’s tendency to use conventional symbols. This can happen when they are encouraged to express ideas, thoughts, knowledge and feelings initially with the means of communication they know and prefer and gradually with new and different means.

In order for pupils to be prepared for primary school, the development of communication skills during preschool means that they are able to:

• Speak in an understandable way

• Produce syntactically correct sentences

• Understand and memorize language and mathematical symbols

• Focus on the symmetry of the sentence and produce inductive and deductive thinking

• Copy shapes and symbols

• Understand and decode facial expressions, tone of voice and posture

• Understand figures of speech like metaphors and similes

• Follow general and personal instructions

• Perform a task while following instructions

• Talk about their likes and dislikes

CREATIVE AND CRITICAL THINKING

Thinking includes creative, critical, and metacognistic mental processes, such as the formation of mental representations and construction of meaning, creation of logical links, development of strategic problem solving, creative management of information and knowledge, formulation of reasonable arguments, evidence-based assessment of situations and behaviours, reflection on thought processes and self-assessment.

Education today is focused on developing thinking skills that will allow individuals to process, evaluate and information and knowledge, to analyze and compose data, make proposals and conclusions and use acquired knowledge to solve new problems in a creative way in many different contexts. Preschool education prepares pupils to be able to:

They are related to the child’s ability to develop meaningful interactions within specific socio-cultural contexts, to recognize and react appropriately to the ideas, actions and feelings of others, to respect their needs, to ask and provide help.

Social skills development presupposes that kindergartens prepare pupils to:

• Work both individually and in groups

• Listen carefully to others

• Wait for their turn and claim it

• Act as a group member

• Respond to various roles in various contexts

• Have self-control and deal with conflicts without violence

• Follow rules

• Accept both defeat and victory

• Socialize in various cultural and social situations

The above four basic skills are interconnected, as they depend on and support each other. As children gradually improve their ability to use the means of representation and communication they acquire new thinking tools that help to develop their creativity and criticism thought. At the same time, this ability can help children to express and project interests, to discover what they want to learn and gradually take responsibility of their own learning. As they improve their ability to communicate with others, the development of social capabilities is also facilitated, such as working together and managing conflicts more effectively, negotiating their views and building solid relationships.

Finally, when children are able to express and communicate their emotions and thoughts effectively, it is easier to become autonomous and develop positive self-esteem. The same can occur when they invent original ideas and are able to manage and resolve problems by implementing ingenious strategies.

The development of personal identity and autonomy contributes to the development of social skills. That is, as children recognize their various personal characteristics (e.g. skills and behaviors), they perceive at the same time differences and similarities with the characteristics of others and therefore they learn to recognize and respect others for what they are. Moreover, the ability to collaborate allows children to participate in group work, manage problems as a team and learn by their peers. Finally, building relationships with other children and active participation in group projects strengthens their self-confidence, consolidates their determination and helps them take initiatives.

Moreover, kindergarten teachers cooperate with parents in order to contribute to this positive atmosphere. The more the parents become actively involved, the more they realize that they can help their children especially if they accept the problem and work along with teachers and experts. Parents are also suggested to make joint decisions and participate in any interventions concerning their children.

Apart from the cooperation with kindergarteners, parents should also cooperate with primary school teachers as well, since pupils’ transition to primary schools is regarded as really crucial, especially for SEN students who are not able to face the demands of multilevel changes that take place during primary school. These pupils cannot deal with and take advantage of these demands in a satisfactory way. As a result, their performance, their development and their mental stability is negatively influenced.

It is, therefore, essential that help should be provided to SEN pupils.  It is important that they are taught social skills throughout preschool education so that the necessary abilities are adequately developed and school transition as well as transition to community and later to work is facilitated. An interdisciplinary perspective should be pursued aiming at active participation. This will promote the development of self-service and personal care skills, time management, communication and cooperation skills which will cultivate the sense of value, dignity, self-esteem and self-perception.

In order for these skills to be taught and developed efficiently teachers should create learning motives and provide rewards for pupils’ efforts depending on their cognitive age, emotional state and interests especially at an initial stage. These motives and rewards will encourage pupils to become actively involved and consequently contribute to their good emotional state, cultivation of their mental health and promotion of autonomous living into society.

In conclusion, preschool education should provide pupils with all the necessary skills and abilities needed for attending primary school and prepare them for the new environment successfully through the implementation of transition practices.   Effective transition practices for SEN pupils should involve families, prepare pupils appropriately by strengthening their learning, social and emotional skills and connect teachers of both kindergartens and primary schools.

  Preschool education lays the foundations for lifelong learning by ensuring the physical, cognitive, linguistic, spiritual, moral, social, emotional, and creative development of children, taking into account the importance of playing in the process of pedagogical interaction. Pre-school education is provided by kindergartens, and compulsory pre-school education is also provided by schools. Compulsory pre-school and school education in state and municipal kindergartens and schools are free for children and students. Preschool education provides education, socialization, training, and raising children until they enter the first grade. Compulsory pre-school education is carried out in the third and fourth preparatory age groups (5-7 years of age). The duration of preschool education in each age group is one school year. The school year includes a study and non-study time. The school time during the school year is in the period from September 15 to May 31 of the next calendar year. The non-school time is in the period from June 1 to September 14.

 Preschool education is carried out in full-time, half-day, part-time, or independent organizations. Pedagogical interaction in preschool education is organized in basic and additional forms.

The main form of pedagogical interaction is the pedagogical situation, which takes place mainly in the form of a game.

The additional forms of pedagogical interaction are organized by the teacher of the group outside the time for conducting the pedagogical situations according to the needs and interests of the children.

The process of pre-school education is subordinated to the implementation of a program system as part of the strategy for the development of the kindergarten, which is adopted by a decision of the pedagogical council. The program system is a complete concept for the development of the child with approaches and forms of pedagogical interaction, subordinated to a common goal.

The monitoring of the child’s achievements is carried out by the teachers of the respective group at the beginning and at the end of the study time in the educational areas.

  At the end of the pre-school education, a certificate for compulsory pre-school education is issued according to the procedure determined by the state educational standard for pre-school education.

GENERAL AND ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

  The Bulgarian legislation in the State Educational Standard for Inclusive Education regulates general and additional support for the personal development of all children, as well as for children with special educational needs.

  General support for personal development is provided according to individual needs and is aimed at developing the potential of each child or student in kindergarten or school. The general support for personal development is aimed at all children in the group and guarantees their participation and expression in the educational process and the activities of the kindergarten, including:

1.Team work between teachers and other pedagogical specialists;

2. Activities of interest;

3. Health care;

4. Early assessment of needs and prevention of learning difficulties;

5. Encouragement with moral and material rewards;

6. Activities for prevention of violence and overcoming problematic behavior;

7. Speech therapy work.

Additional support for personal development is provided by kindergartens, schools, personal development support centers, and specialized service units and is provided for children:

• with special educational needs;

• at risk;

• with outstanding gifts;

• with chronic diseases.

Additional support is provided based on the assessment of individual needs, which is performed by a personal development support team in the kindergarten or school approved by the order of the principal. A “Regional Support Team for Personal Development of Children and Students with Special Educational Needs” is established at the regional centers for support of the process of inclusive education. The composition of this team must include:

• resource teachers;

• special pedagogues, including from the centers for special educational support;

• psychologists;

• speech therapists;

• Representatives of the regional education departments

The team visits the child with special educational needs twice a week and no more than 22 school hours per week. In the assessment, if the team finds indications that the child has special educational needs, then it evaluates his cognitive development, communication, and social skills for physical development, adaptive behavior, mental reactions, family functioning.

At the beginning of each school year, each teacher teaching a child with special educational needs is directly involved in the development of his / her personal educational program.

To prepare children with special educational needs for school, in addition to the plan for additional support, the teacher prepares individual teaching materials in different areas and works with him individually.

WORK WITH INSTITUTIONS AND PARTNER NETWORKS

Important for the smooth transition of children from kindergarten to school and the preparation of the child for the new social role – “student” is the joint work with institutions and partner networks, such as schools, libraries, and others.

The continuity and work between the kindergarten and the school, as well as joint activities organized by the teachers of the two institutions, such as:

– Visiting the children from the kindergarten at school to get acquainted with the school environment, the school regime, to build new relationships, to exchange experiences and information;

– Visiting students from the school in the preparatory groups in the kindergarten on the occasion of “Reading Week” by reading them stories. This is a way for children in kindergarten to cultivate a love of reading and provoke their curiosity and interest in books;

– Making and exchanging cards for different holidays between first-grade children and children from preparatory groups;

– Visit by the children from the preparatory groups in a library, museum, gallery. The main goal is for children to get acquainted with the basic rules of behavior in a public place and acquire knowledge related to the acquisition of cultural values and traditions.

The key competencies are interdependent and represent a set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for the personal development of the individual throughout life, for building an active citizenship and participation in social life, as well as for its suitability for realization on the labor market.

Modern social reality needs citizens with social knowledge and skills, with the ability to self-assess and assess social reality, with a high degree of adaptability to new conditions. In this sense, the development of social, civic, and intercultural competencies in the child is one of the key challenges for educators and parents.

Practises:

• The preschool teacher and the children visit the Primary School and practice, Primary School invites preschool children to participate in joint events and Students of 1st Grade of Primary School visit Preschool in order to share their experiences for school.

• Informal contacts of preschool and primary school teachers in order to discuss the social and academic skills of children are also very important.

• By using written reports on the experiences and the situation of each child (portfolios) that follow the pupils of the preschool in Primary School, teachers have a useful way of linking the experiences and performance of children both in pre-school and primary. These reports include students’ work and record their weaknesses and abilities. In this way, teachers can be informed from the beginning of the school year about the knowledge and skills that are already acquired by children so that they can help and further support them.

• Another practice that teachers find as a good idea is that pre-primary pupils attend classes in the 1st Grade of Primary School. Children know beforehand the new way of teaching, their anxiety about the unknown is reduced, and they adapt more easily to their future new environment.

1. To be able to express what he sees, hears, feelings and thoughts accurately,
2. He / she should be able to keep his / her attention on the subject for a sufficient period of time,
3. Be able to see the similarities and differences of the beings around it,
4. Be able to distinguish similarities and differences,
5. Understand the relationship between sounds and letters and connect sounds to letters,
6. Understand sound similarities and distinguish sounds from each other,
7. Be able to establish the necessary cooperation between his eyes and his hands,
8. Be able to make sense of what he sees and hears and store them in his memory,
9. Must have the behaviour of waiting his turn and being patient,
10. Must have acquired the ability to express himself/herself correctly,
11. Be able to establish friendships and gain communication skills.

SEN STUDENTS

In general education classes, students who are disabled or suspected of being at risk and who show significant differences from their peers are determined by the class teacher.

Various measures should be taken and educational interventions should be made to integrate these students with general education classes instead of directing them to the Guidance and Research Centers immediately. First of all, the situation of the student is evaluated by meeting with the administration, counselor, classroom teacher and family. The classroom teacher tries to take the necessary precautions for this student within the scope of the curriculum he is applying. For this purpose, new arrangements should be made in the physical environment of the classroom, methods and techniques used by the teacher. If the student cannot improve at the end of all the studies; All work done for the student who does not improve is reported and the process of referral to RAM ( Advisory research centre) is started for this student.

A. STUDENTS ATTENDING THE SCHOOL

1. If the parent declares and requests a medical diagnosis report about the student, the Educational Evaluation Request Form is prepared and forwarded to RAM.

2. If the parent does not submit any medical diagnosis report, but requests the student to be directed to RAM, the Educational Evaluation Request Form is prepared, but it is explained in the opinions section of the form on the request of the parent.

3. If the referral will be made by the school, an Educational Evaluation Request Form is prepared.

B. STUDENTS NOT ATTENDING – TRANSFERRED – FIRST TIME REGISTERED

An Educational Evaluation Request Form is requested from the school in case of an application to the RAM for students who are at the age of compulsory education and who are absent / permanently absent, transferred or newly registered. The situation of the student is reported to the RAM with a cover letter explaining the reason why the form could not be completed (absence of an opinion about absenteeism, health reasons, new enrollment or transfer to the school, etc.).

BENEFITS OF BEP

The benefits of BEP can be listed in terms of parents, children, teachers and society as follows.

1. For the student; The different needs arising from the student’s disability are determined and it is clarified how the students’ deficiencies in knowledge and skills will be eliminated with the special education services to be provided. By ensuring the participation of teachers who have learned the techniques that will make learning more meaningful in the BEP process, it is ensured that skills are developed in the education of the child and different arrangements are made in teaching. BEP prepares the individual for an independent life.

2. In terms of parents; It acts as a means of communication between parents and school staff and provides equal say on both sides regarding the needs of the child, what can be achieved and the consequences. It provides significant benefit in resolving differences of opinion between parents and school.

3. In terms of the teacher; It allows the teacher to function as an application and evaluation tool in determining the child’s progress towards the targeted goals.

The classroom environment is shared with counselors and people from other disciplines, allowing the classroom teacher to develop alternative teaching methods.

It acts as a plan and guide for the teacher.

4. In terms of society; In developed societies, disabled children were given the rights given to normal children. It is also useful in terms of aiming to make the individual compatible and beneficial to society.

INDIVIDUALIZED TRAINING PROGRAM (BEP) DEVELOPMENT UNIT

In the report of the students, whose educational diagnosis is made by the Counseling and Research Center and the Special Education Evaluation Board Report is issued, first of all, the educational evaluation and diagnosis part of the report, by looking at the decision part, it is learned whether the student was enrolled in the Special Education Class or the Full Time Inclusion Program. A BEP Development Unit Meeting is held for the student enrolled in the Full Time Inclusion Program.

As stated in Article 50 of Special Education Services Regulation; Individualized Education Program Development Unit Meeting; Under the presidency of the school / institution director or a deputy director to be appointed;

1. A teacher who performs special education duties by traveling,

2. A guidance counselor,

3. The teacher assigned to prepare an educational program,

4. The student’s classroom teacher,

5. Related field teachers who teach the student’s course,

6. Parents of the student,

7. Student,

It consists of these people.

BEP DEVELOPMENT UNIT MEETING

• All members must attend the meeting.

• Separate meetings should be held for each student.

• Family and student must be invited to the meeting.

• Teachers from the class level of the student should be invited to the meeting.

The age between 3-6 / 7 years represents a period characterized by high rhythms of development, in which the foundations of the formation of the future personality are laid. From the perspective of educability, the student 5-6 / 7 years old, has a higher learning capacity in relation to the other subperiods of preschool. In carrying out the activity with this, the emphasis will be on encouraging the child’s initiative and decision-making, on learning through experiments and individual exercises. The learning activities take place either with the whole group of children, or in small groups or individually. They can take the form of activities on disciplines or integrated, of freely chosen activities or of personal development. Among the means of achievement we mention: free play, didactic play, free discussions, experiments, constructions, readings after pictures or reading the educator, the story or stories created by children as well as other means specific to teaching, depending on the educational needs of children.

  The school’s preparation for the preschool child is supported psychologically by a motivation based more and more on the internalization of knowledge interests, but also by an active imagination favorable to social integration.

  The school involves changing the entire life and work regime of the preschooler and entering the school is a crucial moment in his life.

  Aptitude, school maturity is the experience of a phase of the child’s development. It marks that level of development (physical, mental, behavior) at which the activity carried out in its institutionalized form can contribute to the further development of personality. The schooling aptitude is part of the skills. general because it represents a combination of physical and mental availability and is a condition of the child’s integration in school and at the same time, the result of family training and especially in kindergarten. Kindergarten schooling will alleviate the difficulties of adapting the child to school.

   School maturity is the expression of a phase of child development, it marks that level of physical, mental and social development that makes possible integration into school.

   School maturity reflects the degree of concordance between its level of development and the specific requirements of class I, and school immaturity consists in the existence of discrepancies between the level of biological development, psychological and social behavior of the child.

    The mature personality for the school must be characterized by:

– maturity for work – the ability to concentrate, attention and perseverance, the need for performance; self-discipline effort resistance

– moral maturity – capacity for analysis and planning, understanding of the norm and rule, the feeling of duty and responsibility, awareness of the task, the ability to follow and complete one’s own tasks; eager for knowledge and personal sense of values;

– volitional maturity – the ability to self-regulate the ability to make decisions about what he intends to do and how he will act, to inhibit impulses and to regulate needs;

– social maturity – the need to belong to the group, adequate social behavior in the group, the ability to engage with children and adults in work groups, cooperation, openness to the behaviors, opinions and values ​​of others;

PREPARATORY CLASS

Year School 2012-2013 implemented Preparatory class that stage that makes the transition from kindergarten to school. The reason of this measure by introducing the class preparatory to primary cycle is simple: the early socialization in an environment organized is beneficial for personality development of the child. Switching sudden of the                               childhood games at school activities can sometimes be traumatic for the child. The first contact with school needs to be natural and pleasant.

Introduction of Preparatory class proposes to ensure to children the gradually transition from the preschool (for those who have followed it) or of the life only to family (for those who do not have went to kindergarten) to school life. In this class, often in a playful way , the child is prepared for the demands of the school environment and learns to be responsible.

By this transition have place significant changes, some of which are characteristic of transition from kindergarten to school in general (changes in general), and others that are for this stage (changes specific):

Changes in general it refers to:

•  the physical (location, room for class);

•  the child’s program – the duration of the activities, the period of time in which the child is at school;

•  curriculum ( generally similar to the curriculum previously used in preparatory groups in kindergartens);

•  the person responsible for carrying out the activities in the preparatory class (the teacher );

• the child’s colleagues .

The specific changes take into account:

– activities that have as a result the development of skills

School (steps preceding writing- reading, coordination of eye-hand conduct suitable in situations such as would be the activities of the team activities structured imposed , etc.);

– possibility of the identified problems of behavior or difficulties of learning, without this thing to affect adversely adapting the child to school. In the case in which are identified as

The problems the child may be directed toward the support of specialists.

The preparatory class has a double role: on the one hand to consolidate the knowledge already acquired and, on the other hand, to socialize and adapt to change. In addition, class preparatory gives all children a start in good in life school.

Activities organized in class preparation are ways effective of preparation for school, condition necessary for success in Grade I. The purpose of this class is of the give children the possibility to acquire the training needed to start business school and as formative aspect, in order to reach the development of optimal of the psychic processes of knowledge.

The curriculum plan:

In this sense, the former required a restructuring and adaptation of curriculum defined above for the group preparation, taking into account the following principles:

• The principle of considering the child as a whole , addressing holistic the development of the child requires concern permanent the teaching staff to know the child as an individual and adaptation programs educational to profile individual of subject subject of education, condition essential for the formation of a personality full and harmonious;

• The principle of respect fully the rights of the child contained in documents promoted at national and international (ex .: access to education opportunities equal right to the be heard, the right to a have an opinion , etc.);

• The principle of mediating learning in the educational process ;

• The principle of differentiation and individualization , which involves, among others:

–  identify early the children with needs education special and the risk of failure at school;

–  implementation of programs of differentiation and individualization of curriculum, which should allow

avoid the occurrence of problems associated or effects side of lagging in behind in development;

– promotion of actions complex to support pedagogical, medical, social which to  double the differentiated educational intervention ;

– ensuring early educational intervention to overcome difficulties in a tolerant and flexible environment ;

– ensuring equal opportunities for the development of each individuality and preparation for social and school integration .

Therefore, the activities would have to target “zone of proximal development, and adapting curriculum to target content, processes, environment and products expected of the children in after browsing activities of learning.

– The principle of learning through play (game have exploited the way of approach integrated in the activities)

– Principle approach integrated the curriculum . Study integrated the reality it allows the child to explore the way overall to May many fields of knowledge and interdisciplinary approach to content allows taking into account the needs of the knowledge of young children and approach to topics of interest

– The principle of diversity of contexts and situations of learning (with as contexts for learning are different as both are May valuable experiments of learning).

– The principle of alternate forms of organization of work and the strategies of learning. Learning takes place either through tasks individual or by tasks in pairs or in groups small, or the entire population of students , but the efficiency of learning is seen when they are used for different forms of organization and strategies of learning ,, at the time appropriate and in function of the particularities of age and individual, of objectives, contents, the moment of the day.

– The principle of partnership with families and the community . Understanding the value of education early inclusive of the family, community and participation them to offer all children the equal opportunities in education, development, growth and care means a start good in life.

Educational context – Integrated activity

Issues specific to life, you must solve day to day, have a purpose built and not can be solved only resorting to the knowledge, skills, skills that not be assigned in the strict context of an object of study. For the students day our to do to requests of the contemporary world, must to them form the ability of the make transfers quick and efficient between the disciplines of the collect, synthesize and of the putting to work together knowledge gained by studying subjects at school. If successful the school is given the performance of the student in the contexts disciplinary success in life personal, professional and social is given just the ability to exit the pattern of discipline and of the make connections and transfers fast between disciplines to solve problems arising.

The integrated curriculum involves a certain way of teaching and a certain way

The organization and planning of training and produce an interrelation of subjects or objects of study, so as to be meet the needs of development of students. Units of learning to melt in the shape of homework activities integrated in the disciplines of study that bear names in vision integrated: Communication in Romanian -CLR, mathematics and environment exploration – MEM, arts visual and working hand – AVLM , the levels of integration curriculum : monodisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity (multidisciplinarity), transdisciplinary integration .

Characteristics and arguments of the integrated activities :

– learning becomes a personal project of the student, guided, oriented, animated by the teacher;

– learning becomes interesting, stimulating, meaningful;

– the basis of the work stands action practice, the purpose real;

– students participate in all course activities carried out;

– integrated activities are in opposition to verbal and bookish training ;

– emphasis falls on the work of the group and not the one with the whole class;

– it offers students the possibility of the is manifested fully in domains in which capacity their are May obvious;

– cultivates cooperation and not competition;

– students to learn the strategy of research; learn to create situations to issue hypotheses about the causes and relationships in the course of investigation to assess the results possible to reflect on the task data;

– are tools for assessing prognosis because shows the extent to which students present or not certain skills and they value diagnostics, is a good opportunity to test and to check the capacity intellectual and the skills creative of them.

– the teacher has to give up the style of so fragmented, in which lessons are conducted one after another, with the distinction clear between them as and how there would make part of the same process and to adopt a topic of interest to students, which transcends borders various disciplines, organizing knowledge as a whole unit, rennet;

– objectives of  many disciplines planned in the week are achieved in the scenarios / activities daily that include fragments of subjects such as a single    generic.

Work integrated is proving to be a solution, both in approach education in preparatory class but also on the way, for a more good correlation of activities of learning in society, culture and technology teaching.

In order to carry out the continuity project, at the start of the school year teachers plan meetings and discussions throughout school year. Teachers build a common path between kindergarten and primary school to lead pupils and parents during the transition.

We work following these ideas and these points:

• EARLY YEARS: High quality learning experiences should be available to all children from the beginning of their lives as a foundation for lifelong learning. Educationalists and policy makers are increasingly acknowledging that learning pathways start with the early years, and that any provisions for formal schooling must also take into account these important first steps in children’s cognitive, social, physical and emotional development. Planning of the primary curriculum including the curriculum experienced by children when they make the transfer from preschool into primary school.

• LEARNER AND PARENT CHOICE: Pupils and families are supported with guidance and participatory decision-making in navigating pathways between levels and types of school education.

• INTER-INSTITUTION COLLABORATION: Systems have structures and mechanisms to support collaboration across institutions and between actors, focusing on transitions between levels of education.

• TEACHING AND LEARNING: Appropriate curricula and teacher pedagogical approaches help bridge transitions and foster learners’ growing sense of responsibility for their own competence development and future lives in society.

• ACCESS AND INCLUSION: Systems ensure sufficient flexibility to include and integrate pupils who enter or leave at different stages, or who have difficulty in accessing formal education.

• SHARING DATA: Relevant learner data are shared between institutions in both directions, as part of an ongoing dialogue to ensure continuity and progression in learning and continued support for competence development.

• DIFFERENT TYPES OF DATA: Information from quantitative and qualitative assessment and reporting mechanisms are used to help construct a holistic understanding of learner development and progression.

• APPROPRIATE LEARNING CONTEXTS: Supportive, varied and inspiring learning environments and contexts relevant to the stage of development and different leaners are created and reviewed.

• SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL SUPPORT: Schools engage with different stakeholders to provide social and emotional support to learners, including during the period of transition between levels of education.

• SUPPORT TO ‘AT-RISK’ LEARNERS: Targeted strategies and resources are used to identify and support vulnerable learners at the earliest opportunity – this school information are also fed back at regional/national level to support policy-making and strategic investment for pupils at risk.

CONTINUITY AND VERTICAL CURRICULUM

The vertical curriculum organizes and describes the entire educational path that the pupil completes, from kindergarten to secondary school.

       In compliance with the general purposes, taken as a reference horizon, our school adopts a vertical curriculum that takes into account:

the framework of key competences for lifelong learning, defined by the Parliament and the Council of the European Union on 18 December 2006, expressly referred to in the National Guidelines for the curriculum;

of the Recommendation of 23 April 2008, on the European qualifications framework (for citizenship education)

of law 107/2015 and legislative decree 62/17

of the 17 objectives set out by the UN in the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, in particular Objective 4: To provide quality, equitable and inclusive education, and learning opportunities for all;

of the National Indications and New Scenarios of 22/02/2018

the goals for the development of skills expected at the end of kindergarten, primary school and lower secondary school;

the learning objectives related to the three school levels defined according to a holistic, dynamic and progressive vision, aimed at achieving the goals outlined;

the priority training objectives identified for the enhancement of knowledge and skills;

curricular planning attentive to the integration and inclusion of pupils with Special Educational Needs and to the phenomena of abandonment and all forms of early school leaving;

planning of the training offer developed in synergy with the cultural, social and economic context of the territory of belonging;

a flexible didactic and educational organization, adapted to the training needs of each pupil and according to a diversified methodology.

Our vertical curriculum adopts the concept of continuity and unity of the curriculum, it develops from a transversal perspective, incorporating not only the specific aspects of disciplinary learning, but above all the dimension of being and of the pupil’s know-how.

 The curriculum specifies the autonomous planning of the Institute in terms of methodological and operational choices, organization and evaluation to achieve the goals of the training process in the light of the national guidelines for the curriculum. The inspiring principles of the curriculum, in compliance with the specificities of the three school segments, are represented by the unity of knowledge, the unity of interventions and the continuity of educational processes.

The unity of knowledge is linked to the unified vision of the person who must develop in a complete, harmonious and balanced way.

We gradually move from learning by experimenting to the ever-increasing ability to reflect and formalize the experience, through the reconstruction of cultural tools and the ability to use them as a key to understanding reality.

The unity of the interventions is achieved in interpersonal relationships (between teachers, between them and pupils) in the didactic paths designed in continuity between the different school segments, in the didactic mediation (timing of disciplines, grouping of verification and evaluation.

Continuity underlines the right of each pupil to a uniform, organic and complete school path; aims to alleviate the difficulties that often arise in the transition between the different school levels.

Within the Curriculum, particular attention is given to vertical and horizontal continuity.

Vertical continuity is achieved through moments of pedagogical, curricular and organizational connection with the previous school and the next one:

Development of intervention plans

Consistency of educational styles

Shared methods of organizing activities with particular attention to methodological systems

Exchanges of information and experiences between the teachers of the three school levels

Coordination of bridge years curricula

Common meetings and curricular activities between the pupils of the bridge classes

Common moments of teacher training

CURRICULUM: MOTIVATIONS, AIMS, METHODOLOGIES, STRUCTURATION

REASONS

PURPOSE

METHODS

STRUCTURING OF THE VERTICAL CURRICULUM BY DISCIPLINES

Avoid fragmentation, segmentation, repetitiveness of knowledge; outline a unitary training path.

Build positive communication between the different school levels.

Allowing a climate of psycho-physical well-being that is the basis of the learning condition.

Promote the free expression of one’s emotions and cognitive and communication skills.

Ensure a gradual path of global growth.

Allowing the acquisition of skills, abilities, knowledge appropriate to the potential of each pupil.

Encourage the realization of one’s “life project”.

Laboratory

Experiential

Communicative

Participatory

Ludic-expressive Explorative (research) Collaborative (group) Interdisciplinary

Transversal (integration)

It is divided into kindergarten, primary school and lower secondary school.

It is organized by fields of experience and disciplines.

THE AIMS

The purpose of the school is not only to provide information or qualifications but, above all, to contribute, for its part, to the enhancement, growth and development of the human person. The school is the educational institution that, through its complex planning, structures interventions aimed at promoting those universally recognized values (freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, equality, solidarity, tolerance, participation, peace, health, environment, science, work, democracy) on a cognitive, affective-behavioral level, as the basis of the contents proposed across the disciplines.

Project evaluation

• Changes at the level of educators

• Changes at the children’s level

• Changes at the parental level

• Changes in spatial conditions

Changes at the children‘s level

• In all case studies, school beginners are seen to enter the school with more security, trust and less fear due to the various cooperative measures in advance

• Children are already oriented in the school building, know teachers, older pupils as well as material susedin lessons and have developed “pupil identity“

• The project has strengthened language training measures in kindergartens (especially important for children who are not native German speakers)

Intellectual outcomes of the project

• Charlotte-Bühler-Institut developed guideline for language support at the transition from kindergarten to primary school

• Guideline for individualisation and differentiated support at the beginning of school

• Ministry of Education set up an online platform to facilitate the exchange of information between the project participants.

Transition practices

• Kindergarten and a primary school with many years of cooperation experience in which the holistic promotion of non-German-speaking and German-speaking children plays a central role.

• At the center of the work of the two institutions is the conscious handling of multilingualism and the development of a positive attitude towards linguistic and cultural diversity among the children.

Early childhood education:

Article 14. Organization and pedagogical principles.

1. The stage of early childhood education is arranged in two cycles. The first includes up to three years, and the second, from three to six years of age.

2. The educational nature of both cycles will be included in a pedagogical proposal by all centers that provide early childhood education.

3. In both cycles of early childhood education, effective development, emotional management, movement and body control habits, manifestations of communication and language, the elementary guidelines of coexistence and social relationship, will be progressively addressed, as well as the discovery of the environment, of the living beings that live in it and of the physical and social characteristics of the environment in which they live. Education in values, education for responsible and sustainable consumption and promotion and education for health will also be included. It will also help girls and boys to develop a positive, balanced and egalitarian image of them and acquire personal autonomy.

…

8. To guarantee the continuity of the training process and a positive transition and evolution of all students, the necessary continuity between this stage and Primary Education will be reflected in the curricular development, which will require close coordination between the teachers of both stages. To this end, at the end of the stage, the tutor will issue a report on the development and needs of each student.

In this POINT 8, talking about Early Childhood Education, the only thing that the new Code indicates is the need to contemplate this transition, but it does not detail specific norms that the Educational centers and the regional authorities will have to develop.

This absence of clear standards and indicators means that the centers are at very different levels when contemplating the establishment of transition paths for their students. There are those who have excellent planning, and those who, at the moment, have poor experiences.

But at least the need for teachers at both levels to work closely together for this transition is clearly pointed out.