On 16th May 2024, the Telheiro of the Bairro 25 de Junho U2 School, in the district of Chibuto, Mozambique, hosted another Exchange between Animators/"Educators in Motion". The meeting was an opportunity to share experiences, reflections and joint concerns about the activities carried out in the small schools, in a very productive and dynamic day's work.
The session, promoted by AIDGLOBAL, was attended by 18 Animators/"Educators in Motion" from the six Community Schools in Chibuto and was facilitated by the Delegation's team, made up of Kindergarten Educator, Ledieta Bombe, and Project Technician, Jéssica Sitoe.
The objectives of this exchange were to take stock of how the Escolinhas worked during the first quarter of the 2024 school year, to come up put forward proposals for resolving problems and difficulties experienced during the quarter, to reflect on the role of the Animator/Educator in the children's development, to tell stories as a group and, finally, to simulate activities for the next plans.
During the meeting, the participants were able to hone their skills and reflect together on their strengths and those that need to be improved. They also defined the steps they need to take in order to improve their pedagogical and didactic intervention with the children at the Escolinhas.
The Animators/"Educators in Motion" face some setbacks on a daily basis and, in order to obtain appropriate answers and solutions that can be applied to each situation, they were given a document from the Mozambican Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Action, highlighting the role and characteristics of an Early Childhood Educator, which includes supporting children, maintaining good communication with the community, knowing children's rights and the support available, observing and documenting children's development, creating a welcoming environment, setting limits, monitoring leisure activities, producing materials from local resources, working as part of a team, communicating with mothers and fathers and supporting the pedagogical and administrative management of the institution. The document will help facilitators improve their performance in favour of more structured child development and better teaching quality, helping to shape children's cognitive, emotional and social abilities and providing a safe, stimulating and inclusive environment where they can learn, explore and grow.
Storytelling is a contribution to learning to read and write, a crucial tool for the development of the little ones and one that feeds children's need to hear stories, promoting a taste and habit for reading and awakening their imagination. With this in mind, the facilitators challenged the participants to tell the story of the "Coelho e o Camaleão” (Rabbit and the Chameleon) in Portuguese and Changana to the other facilitators, who evaluated the presentations among themselves and identified points for improvement, taking into account the essential elements for good storytelling: the atmosphere, the rhythm, the dialogue, the sounds, gestures, looks, movements and the pedagogical objectives guided by principles such as appropriateness to the age level and learning context, variety, creativity and seriousness, so that when the children hear the story, they can conceive of the settings, the characters, in a world of their own.
As the last action of the day, the participants simulated activities to be developed in the next school activity plans, in the last fortnight of May, based on the monthly planning provided by AIDGLOBAL, which served as a reference for the Teams of Animators/"Educators in Motion". The daily activities were carried out in 8 groups of 2 to 3 members from different communities.
At the end of the exchange, the participants had the opportunity to give their opinions on the topics covered and, overall, the balance was positive. The AIDGLOBAL team members present thanked them for their willingness and commitment throughout the day to collaborate in fulfilling the established programme, highlighting the simulation of the daily plans for the activities to be implemented in the small schools. The participants said they felt better prepared to fulfil their role as Pre-School Animators/"Educators", which motivates them to continue working in favour of Quality Early Childhood Education.
Exchanges between the Animators/"Educators in Motion" of the 6 Community Schools in the Chibuto district have been taking place since the pilot project (2028-2022) and have now totalled 8 meetings.
The initiative is part of the project "
Educadores em Movimento – uma Educação Itinerante para a Primeira Infância, Fase 2”, which has the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation as its main funder
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation,
AIDGLOBAL, the project manager, as its promoter, and the Chibuto District Service for Education, Youth and Technology (SDJET) and the the District Service for Health, Women and Social Action (SDSMAS) as partners como promotora a
AIDGLOBAL, gestora do projeto, e como parceiros, o Serviço Distrital da Educação, Juventude e Tecnologia do Chibuto (SDJET) e Serviço Distrital da Saúde, Mulher e Acção Social (SDSMAS) – official Mozambican entities that guarantee the articulation of the project with public policies.
