Archive of News from ISSA's Core Members

Kyrgyz Step by Step Program Awarded Funding for "Equal Access to Education"

21 May 2008

ISSA's Kyrgyz Council Member, Public Foundation "Education Initiatives Support" (FEIS), was recently awarded funding to implement the project, "Equal Access to Education" from Liechtensteinischer Entwicklugs - Dienst. The goal of the project is to improve the quality of education in Uzbek-language schools in the Fergana Valley region of Kyrgyzstan.

Ethnic Uzbeks make up about 14% of the population of Kyrgyzstan. This population is largely concentrated Fergana Valley, in the south of the country. This region has long struggled, due to a host of issues which negatively influence quality of life and education, including border disputes, ethnic enclaves and conflict areas, lack of land and water resources, poverty and social tension, the threat of radical Islam, and drug trafficking. This project will serve 180,000 children in 240 Uzbek-language schools which suffer from a lack of professional personnel, textbooks, and manuals in Uzbek, and whose methodological techniques are quickly becoming outdated.

The Step by Step Program (SBS), in cooperation with School Improvement (SI), Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking (RWCT), and Health Culture programs under the umbrella of the Public Foundation "Education Initiatives Support" as an implementing agency, will help to effectively upgrade the quality of primary education for this vulnerable segment of the population through pre-service and in-service training, mentor support, and provision of methodological libraries for teachers, trainers, parents, and all interested parties of communities.

For more information about the project, please contact Tatiana Motokhina at tana1906@mail.ru.

Ec Pec Staff Trained in New Anti-Bias Method

January 2008

The Ec Pec Foundation, ISSA's Hungarian member organization, is proud to announce that it has begun implementing the Persona Dolls training method. The Persona Doll training programme uses dolls as an an effective, non-threatening and enjoyable way to raise equality issues and counter stereotypical and discriminatory thinking with students, early years practitioners and young children. Two Ec Pec trainers participated in a Persona Doll Training in London in December 2007. The Foundation has begun the accreditation process necessary in order to provide the trainings to teachers in Hungary. Ec Pec hopes to create a Persona Doll Training Center which would host trainings, training materials, and a network database. The Ec Pec Foundation is happy to share its experiences with other ISSA members.

For more information about the Persona Doll Training and its methods, visit http://www.persona-doll-training.org/. For more information about the Ec Pec experience, please contact Zsuzsa Laszlo: laszlozsuzsa@ecpec.hu.

Nadacia Skola Dakoran Awarded Funding for New Roma Project in Slovakia

January 2008

Nadacia Skola Dakoran, implementer of the Step by Step program in Slovakia, is pleased to announce the start of a new Roma project, “Equal Chance,” which is funded by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism. The two-year project seeks to improve the quality of Roma education by developing the adaptability of teachers in classrooms and involving Roma students directly in the creation of learning materials, and includes an IT component. For more information, please contact Eva Koncokova at nsd@nsd.sk.

The Step by Step Program Foundation Bulgaria Awarded MATRA Grant for Roma School Improvement Project

November 2007

The Step by Step Program Foundation Bulgaria is pleased to announce the recent award of a 36-month MATRA project in partnership with SLO – The National Institute for Curriculum (The Netherlands). The project aims to improve the educational capacity of 10 schools throughout the country with high Roma populations by developing within the schools: inclusive school practices, individualization, and parent involvement. For more information, contact Emil Buzov at emil.step@bitex.com.

The Center for Interactive Pedagogy’s Project Undergoes Successful External Evaluation in Serbia

November 2007

The Center for Interactive Pedagogy (CIP) has undergone an external evaluation for their project “Equal Chances in Secondary Schooling” (funded by Pestalozzi Children’s Foundation and Fund for an Open Society Serbia). During the project, CIP conducted ESJ trainings for secondary school professors and NGO Roma Activists. These participants then went on to conduct workshops for their own students in “mixed pairs” (professor and Roma activist.) The evaluation documented extremely positive feedback from participants, who stated that the relationship among children is changing, and that compared to when the children entered the first grade in September, the children are almost unrecognizable – they are more aware of each other and care more for each other.

The evaluation revealed that the children participating in the training were truly thrilled with the methodology used. They feel that they hardly communicated with their teachers before, but now they are active participants in their own learning process and much more comfortable with differences and their own identities. Professors and teachers involved in the project have introduced many new activities, including ESJ posters and peer education.

For more information, please contact Milena Mihajlovic at ciip@sezampro.yu.

Ten years of Step by Step Program in Latvia

October 2007

In 2007 the Step by Step Program celebrated its 10th anniversary in Latvia. The Anniversary conference “Quality and Equality in Education: 10 Years of Step by Step” was organized in October by the Centre for Education Initiatives (CEI) with support from the Soros Foundation - Latvia. Teachers, school administrators, and university lecturers from all over the country analysed their experience in implementation of this child-centred program and shared their future plans. Representatives of ministries, local educational authorities, and NGOs, as well as guests from abroad, added national and international perspectives to the content of the conference.

The first day of the conference was organized as a workshop and “market” for the ideas offered by teachers from 21 schools and preschools who have received the ISSA Certificate of the Excellence in Teaching. “It was impossible to explore all of the materials, so rich and interesting they are,” wrote one of the participants in conference evaluation form.

Presentations on the second day looked to the future. Prof. Zane Olina, Florida State University (USA), shared a vision of developing the professional community; Guntars Catlaks, Education International (Belgium) and Chair of the Soros Foundation – Latvia, illustrated how close the connections are between open, active, and democratic classrooms and an open, democratic society. Representatives of the network of schools shared their challenges, successes, and future plans in promoting quality of education and access for all children.

The CEI is especially thankful to Aija Tuna, ISSA Program Director, and Emil Buzov, Director of the Bulgarian Step by Step Foundation, who presented the experiences of ISSA and Bulgaria at the conference.

For further information contact Zenija Berzina, Director of the CEI at zenija@iic.lv.