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LETS GO EXCHANGING
Start date: Dec 19, 2014, End date: Dec 18, 2015 PROJECT  FINISHED 

The project ″Let's go exchanging” was designed with the aim of learning from the practice of two kindergartens, i.e. Vrtec Vodmat kindergarten from Slovenia and Aldalthing kindergarten from Iceland. The main aim of the project was training kindergarten professionals for understanding and applying concepts that view the child as a morally competent being and broaden the use of artistic content as well as developing competences, such as creativity and inclusion. The basic idea of the project was to increase the presence of art in kindergarten, enable children with authentic experiences with art and include population with special needs. Through various artistic practices (such as creative challenges), we aimed at encouraging children to step into deep relations with those close to them (peers and adults), with their natural environment, cultural and historical heritage, and encourage prosocial behaviour. On the other hand, the project aimed at the familiarization with the concept of inclusion as understood in Iceland where accepting difference is a positive value of the environment and consequently, children with special needs are part of the general kindergarten system. Both kindergartens have a lot of experience in this field, Vodmat in the field of art and Aldalthing with regard to inclusion and art. Vrtec Vodmat was thus able to learn about the broader model of inclusion with its special emphasis on art and which supports an individual's identity development, i.e. the model developed and implemented in the Icelandic kindergarten, aided by Professor Kristin Dýrfjörð, head of theoretical research and implementation of the approach. The Icelandic kindergarten was visited by five kindergarten professionals from Slovenia at this stage. In May, Aldalthing kindergarten was visited by the management team of Vrtec Vodmat and a pedagogue who held two lectures and training for kindergarten professionals and artists who work with children. In November, the second mobility visit was carried out – Aldalthing was visited by two professionals who observed the use of art in inclusive practice. The third visit took place in December when the pedagogue from Slovenia observed the practice in the kindergarten and prepared an evaluation together with Kristin Dýrfjörð, looking for commonalities of the models of inclusion in Vodmat kindergarten and Aldalthing. In November, Kristin Dýrfjörð the kindergarten, observed the practice and prepared a lecture for the professionals there. At the very beginning of the project, staff was introduced to ways of presenting the kindergartens and models implemented by the two kindergartens as well as looking for intersections and ways the models could still gain from one another and be further improved. Kristin Dýrfjörð and Darja Štirn designed protocols for professionals that would aid observation in practice, support was provided by a theoretician, supervision and the possibility for discussing a detailed understanding of practice. Expected results have to do with the link between theoretical findings related to inclusion (pedagogy of listening, pedagogy of relationships, art as a practice encouraging a comprehensive identity development of the individual and actual pedagogical practice carried out under the mentorship of professor Dýrfjörð at the kindergarten and gaining new insight with regard to artistic practices and inclusive education that we shall try and use when planning activities in our kindergarten. A further long-term benefit, as we see it, is gaining international contacts that could benefit our further work or even offer new employment opportunities through new projects (in 2016, we applied for the project K1 to enable a broader professional insight into the practice of kindergarten in Iceland and are designing a project as part of the K2 activity of the Erasmus+ project).

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