BACKGROUND
Children and young people should be supported to develop changemaker skills such as problem solving and critical thinking, empathy, teamwork and responsibility, leadership and self-confidence to become individuals who take responsibility in today’s and tomorrow’s social problems, find innovative solutions and make positive contributions to the society. To improve these skills, it is not only necessary to reach examples of in-class practices, visualize and disseminate them for teachers, but also support parents to develop these skills in children outside of school environments.
In line with these needs, Ashoka Turkey Changemakers Classes and Changemakers Parenthood projects have been implemented.
PROJECT RESULTS
Changemaker Classes
- Need assessment meetings were made with teachers.
- Examples of in-class practices that support changemaker skills were found, compiled, and their videos were prepared.
- The farkyaratansiniflar.org platform was announced with the press meeting in 2017. At the end of three years on the platform, 75 application example and 25 expert videos were published from 16 different cities that can be applied for changemakers skills in the classroom. While producing videos, partnerships were developed with several civil society organizations working on education field such as Another School is Possible, Teachers Network, İstanbul Bilgi University Sociology and Education Implementation and Research Center and Tohum Autism Foundation. Videos were viewed more than 200,000 times in different platforms.
- The toolkit for promoting empathy in schools, prepared in Ashoka Global based on the experiences of social entrepreneurs who work in the field of education and children, was localized and translated into Turkish with the contributions of teachers from Turkey. The Guide was downloaded by more than 55,000 people.
- Face to face training modules for teachers were created to support changemaker skills and pilot implementations were conducted.
- Throughout three years, special sessions on social emotional skills in ‘Good Practices in Education Conference’ were organized with the participation of international experts.
- The conferences entitled ‘Creating Space for Emotions’ (2018) and ‘Creating Space for Emotions: Multidimensional Overview to Empathy’ (2019) were held with the participation of 700 people in total and a live broadcast reaching 1,500 people. Following the events where inspiring stories and approaches of 28 different speakers from Turkey and around the world were presented, the videos of all the speeches were published on the website.
- In order to open a space for deeper discussions on the practice examples between the teachers who explain the practice they developed in the videos and the teachers who follow the platform, nine online meeting were held with the participation of more than 100 people.
- Designed in collaboration with the Social Emotional Learning Academy and the Teachers Academy Foundation (ÖRAV), ‘Changemakers Skills: Social Emotional Learning Education in Learning Environments’ was published on the e-campus platform of ÖRAV. The training program was watched by more than 400 people in the first four months.
- Roundtable meetings were held on the topics of empathy, creative problem solving, leadership and collaboration which are defined as changemakers skills, and a booklet was published on each topic that discusses the discussions of the field with the contributions of experts. This online publication was downloaded by more than 5,000 people in the first four months.
Changemaking Parenthood
- Changemaking Parenthood project, which aims to support parents for the development of social emotional skills, based on the need expressed by teachers during both the process of determining needs and during field studies, was launched in May 2018.
- Contents of YourKids Program conducted by Ashoka Global were localized and expanded from Changemaking Parenthood Instagram account in June-December 2018.
- The questionnaire suggestions related to social emotional skills were prepared and included in the study of 'Adult View on Education' conducted by the Education Reform Initiative.
- Communication activities and social media campaigns, including live broadcasts on parenting and changemakers skills were conducted in social media.
- Changemaking Parenthood Meetings were held within the scope of the 'Teachers First for Children' project carried out by Another School is Possible Association in Muğla, Köyceğiz.
- Video series titled ‘Changemaking Parenthood: As Children Grow Up…’ was prepared in cooperation with Mother Child Education Foundation (AÇEV). The series consisting of 12 videos and information and tips that parents can apply for the development of social emotional skills of their children were shared in AÇEV's 'First6Years' application and on social media.
“It’s a website where I can find various practices and information that will allow me to be more beneficial to my students as a prospective teacher; having this kind of resource at my disposal is a very pleasing and motivating situation.” A Follower Who Completed the Evaluation Questionnaire
“In education, we usually focus on students’ academic achievements. We ignore the emotional development of the students. For the first time, I found information about emotionally supporting students on a website.” A Teacher who Completed the Evaluation Questionnaire
“I received feedback from a lot of educators from most parts of the country. Messages and questions came from social media. My school found its place on social media, as a school that supports its teachers in every respect for the development of student skills.” A Teacher with an Application Example
“It is the first time I have associated emotions with class rules. I observed that children (1st grade) compliance and participation rates increased surprisingly when the rules were associated with emotions. Now, they were expressing their emotions even while reminding the class rules to each other. The pleasure I got from my experience encouraged me to transfer the application to Life Studies lessons.” A Teacher that Experiences the Practice Example in his/her Classroom
“Events that this kind of activities empower me. While working with my profession, it provides the opportunity to dispose of it more professionally and healthily. I would like to thank everyone who shared the problems and dreams of the teachers and worked with such activities.” A Teacher Attended Webinar
“First of all, my students felt more belonging to school. For me, it enabled me to conduct courses with show quality every day. It increased my motivation and focus. If we look at about my life, there is a place where I feel belonging and it’s very proud.” A Teacher who Completed the Evaluation Questionnaire
