Success story

The centre that we visited last week for the health inspection is one where we have seen some of the most significant and genuine change as a result of the project. The centre was originally set up by the local community and is situated in a beautiful and peaceful setting in the grounds of a temple. More recently, the centre was brought under the control of the local MOI Sub-District Administrative Office who planned to merge it with the other Child Care and Development Centre in the area. However, the local community resisted this merger, and the centre remains very much an active and integral part of the local community and a popular choice for parents.

 

 

The Welcome Committee - my daily arrival on my motorbike used to be a source of great fascination and amusement for the children. Maybe something to do with the outsize motorbike helmet I wear. The novelty has worn off somewhat by now!

One of the key factors in the success of the centre, and of our work there, is the support of the Director. She does not teach a class herself, and she is very proactive in offering support to her staff. She has consistently expressed her appreciation of the practical training we have given, and her positive attitude and the support she has given her teachers has been instrumental in helping them implement changes in practice.

When we first started working with the centre, the children never played outside as the play equipment was broken and dangerous. As part of the project VSO have provided funding to carry out the necessary maintenance work on the outdoor play area. Since the repair works, all the children are given the opportunity to play outside as part of the daily routine – weather permitting! Outdoor play is such a crucial part of childhood physical development and this is a significant change that had been brought about as a result of the project.

In working with the teachers at this centre, we focused our work mainly on the teacher of the oldest children, as these children are within the original target age range of the project. She is a fully trained and highly experienced early childhood teacher. From the start I was very aware of the need to recognise her experience and be very sensitive in my approach when suggesting possible alternative ways of teaching.

In the first year of the project she had a class of 35 children, aged between 3 and 4, with no help. We discussed with the Education Chief the possibility of her having an assistant. This had been previously proposed, but in the end the hiring of an extra teacher to cater for an influx of younger students took priority and she remained on her own with this large class of lively and energetic children.

 

I decided that I could not make any suggestions to her that I would not be prepared to put into practice myself in the same working conditions. I worked closely with her to plan activities that were more developmentally appropriate for the children but still manageable in the teaching context. She was always very polite, but she did not hesitate to tell me when she thought my approaches were mistaken or unrealistic, and I always had the impression that she was very sceptical about my suggestions and quite reluctant to change.

Butterfly Party - as part of the topic on butterflies we set up a creative activity where the children made butterfly hats. We then held a butterfly party, where the children drank "nectar" (orange juice) from "flowers" (paper cups with a flower lid) using their "proboscis" (a plastic drinking straw). A much more effective way of learning how butterflies feed than simply telling the children or showing pictures.

One change that I encouraged her to make was to move away from doing all activities with the whole class to setting up a variety of group activities for the children, including free play. She was initially resistant to this idea, saying that it would not be possible to control the children in such a setting. However, she later attended a workshop in Bangkok (totally separate from our project) where they had clearly been advocating the same idea, and this provided the trigger for her to try the new approach.

She has now modified the structure of the daily routine, and is providing more opportunities for the children to be involved in practical activities and free play, which is one of the key changes we have been trying to support. In a recent conversation she talked enthusiastically about the impact of the changes. Contrary to her original fears, the behaviour of the children has actually improved, as they always have something stimulating and appropriate to do, and she is able to give more focused attention to individual children by working with smaller groups.

The Book Corner

Role play - a budding medic!

 

The Home Corner

She also said that she no longer feels so exhausted, and she thanked me very sincerely for helping her bring about these changes. After so many months of feeling I was getting nowhere, this was a real breakthrough moment and it left me feeling quite emotional! It provides an excellent illustration of the importance and the effectiveness of the long-term approach of VSO placements in bringing about meaningful and lasting change. It took over a year of working closely together and suggesting tiny, gradual changes for this change to occur. But now that it has, I believe it will last, because the teacher has come to an understanding for herself that this is a successful approach to supporting young children's learning and development.