Say Yes, July 2002: The Place to Learn

I dream… says twelve year old Gökçe Çiçek, the artist who made this drawing, I dream of a school where I’ll be very sad when the summer holidays come. Gökçe was one of the children who attended the UNICEF-assisted workshop on Child Friendly Learning Environments (CFLE) in Ankara between the 24th and 28th of June. The participation of these children and their teachers was critical to the productivity of the event.

More than eighty participants took part in the workshop -- children, teachers, school principals, school inspectors, central and local officials from the Ministry of National Education (MONE), the Social Services and Child Protection Agency (SHÇEK), the Ministry of Agriculture and Village Works (MOA) and several non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The object was to consider what is required from any environment where a child is present in order to ensure his or her freedom to develop, to secure the right to survival and protection and obtain the vital skills of critical thinking, problem solving and working with others.

In short, to assist the child in realising his or her full potential for a happy, healthy and productive life.

On consideration of these aspects, participants attempted to reach a consensus on the concept of CFLE, developing a list of characteristics necessary to establish such an environment. They would then focus on the best way that their various agencies and institutions might facilitate the establishment of child friendly learning environments.

Characterising the CFLE

In order to proceed, it was decided that the most productive strategy would be to look at Good Practices (successful projects already in operation) and to locate the child-friendly characteristics which might serve as a model for qualifying CFLEs.

So fifteen different but successful projects by MONE and other ministries and non-govermental organisations were presented for analysis.

It has to be said that this was an awesome task given the scope of the subject. The efforts of participants to be very specific in their efforts to identify the child friendly characteristics in each presented project in order to achieve concrete conclusions is to be applauded.

A list of more than two hundred CFLE-identifying characteristics was finalised with a particular focus on the school environment. These were then listed in eight categories:

• the academic curriculum;
• health and safety issues;
• the participation of children (in school councils, clubs etc …);
• individual references or different needs;
• discipline and rules;
• the physical environment;
• school administration, organisation and philosophy;
• counselling and guidance services.

A two-day preliminary training seminar was organised under the guidance of a British expert with the participation of the principals, teachers and students of six local schools. The seminar provided excellent grounding on the nature of CFLEs, illustrating the importance of participation by children themselves and how CFLEs can be actualised in the schools.

Planning Ahead

The next step is to give a final shape to the characteristics of CFLEs in consultation with a team of specialists and experts in a two-day Writeshop which has been scheduled to prioritise a shortlist. Training kits will be prepared using the ten most important issues for guidance and the CFLE project will be implemented in pilot schools before the end of the year. Ultimately the programme will be expanded nationwide by the year 2005.

A very immediate and heartening outcome of the CFLE workshop is that participants from the Board of Education have already integrated the related characteristics of childrens’ participation into their draft regulation on school councils and clubs. At the time of press, they were hoping to have submitted the document for approval by the end of July.

As Gökçe Çiçek and her friends put it, during the course of the Workshop:

We all dream of a school where no child is left out and all of the children are so healthy and happy to participate and eager to learn that they don’t even want to leave for the Summer holidays

And that is what all of us, all the participants in the Workshop, have committed to work for until it becomes a reality for the children of Turkey.

See Education Programmes for more details about the Family and Child Training Programme (FACT) and Child-friendly Schools (CFS).

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