Slide margiotta zambianchi_bucharest_24-25oct13

Transforming the educational relationship: adults learning for intergenerational creative experiences

Strengthening the reflectivity of parents with creative and informal languages

Umberto Margiotta, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia (Italia)[email protected]

Elena Zambianchi, PhD Student, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia (Italia)[email protected]

International conference 24-25 October 2013 - Bucharest, Romania

1. BACKGROUND OF THE RESEARCH

By a long time the European Community highlights how parents – fundamental resource for the education of the “tomorrow’ citizens” – must be supported in the interpretation of their educative role and in the assumption of their whole responsibility with respect to the related functions.

This paper presents an ALICE pilot project dedicated to the training of parents with children aged 0-3 and realized as a laboratory of reflection laboratory of reflection through creative and informal languagesthrough creative and informal languages.


In consequence, an ALICE pilot project has been designed to support young parents.

A laboratorial path named “Parenting: thoughts and creations to explore a new, though ancient, identity. A laboratory to listen themselves, to listen, to reflect” was been organized by Elena Zambianchi assisted by Monica Gazzato, kindergarten’s teacher, in collaboration with the Association" Progetto Nascere Meglio“ of Venezia-Mestre.

The laboratorial path, which also involved children, has been realized from November to December 2012, over six meeting sessions two hours’ long.


ALICE - Adults Learning for Intergenerational Creative Experiences is an European project GRUNTWIG-LLP that aims to train adults interested in interacting with children through creative and informal languages. The principal objectives are:

1. promoting the acquisition of skills enhancing the educational effectiveness from an intergenerational perspective;

2. increasing the adults' awareness about their role "as educators" to develope skills of citizenship and social cohesion in the new generations.

2. CONTEXT OF THE PRACTICE

In collaborazione con

Alice Project Pilot Genitorialità: pensieri e creazioni

per esplorare una nuova, seppur antica, identità UN LABORATORIO PER ASCOLTARSI, ASCOLTARE, RIFLETTERE

Elena Zambianchi* in collaborazione con Monica Gazzato**

ALICE - Adults Learning for Intergenerational Creative Experiences” è un Progetto Europeo GRUNDVIG che sviluppa interventi formativi informali basati su metodologie e linguaggi creativi dedicati all’adulto nel suo ruolo di educatore, in quanto potente leva per lo sviluppo nei bambini e nei ragazzi di competenze di cittadinanza.

Il percorso “GENITORIALITÀ: pensieri e creazioni per esplorare una nuova, seppur antica, identità” è una sperimentazione formativa che rientra nell’ambito delle attività promosse da ALICE

www.alice-llp.eu

Obiettivi della proposta formativa Offrire un percorso di supporto alla

genitorialità per il riconoscimento, la consapevolezza e il potenziamento delle proprie capacità di accompagnare i figli nel loro percorso di crescita e per formare i “beni comuni”, cittadini di domani

Come? Attraverso una conviviale ricerca basata sul

rievocare, sentire, riflettere sui propri saperi genitoriali, per attivare una rigenerazione alla cura di sé e dei propri figli, esplorando assieme alcuni interrogativi inerenti l’essere e il fare il genitore

Dedicato a chi? Mamme e papà con bimbi in età 0-3

Quando e dove? Sei incontri settimanali a partire da

giovedì 8 Novembre 2012 ore 17.00, presso “Progetto Nascere Meglio”, Via Torino 3, Mestre

Metodologia Saranno adottati linguaggi

informali e creativi: narrazioni e forme espressive per creazioni individuali o collettive dedicate a sé e ai propri figli: parole, segni e colori, manipolazioni plastiche, libri e libroni, giochi e suoni

* Formatrice, psicologa psicoterapeuta **Insegnante di scuola dell’infanzia formata alla pedagogia stein eriana

The locandina

3. PRACTICE PROBLEM

General purpose of this experimentation was to stimulate in young parents a reflexive practice through the critical exploration of their experiences and their lived as son/daughter and as parent, contributing to the explicitation - and sometimes to the transformation - of their knowledges on parenting starting from the enhancement of the resources derivable from their family.

4. APPROACH OF THE INTERVENTION

Using the dialogue and the autobiographic narration supported by informal and creative languages, the objectives were to offer to parents:

a) a simple but essential help through forms of analogical expression in order to recognize, strengthen and enhance their caregiving competences, favouring awareness of them;

b) a support to the empowerment of the practices of reflection critics on the educative tools for a better use of them in the educational relationship with children.


5. METHODOLOGY AND CONTENTS

Each laboratory session was organized in two phases:

a) the first as a self-reflection as parent and then as son/daughter;

b) the second as a realization of creative activities to enhance the educational quality of the relationship with their children, in order to support a reflexive parenting.

Among the techniques used: self-description, autobiographic narration, group discussion, emotional resonance, role playing, use of literary and evocative material, expressive forms for individual and/or collective creations, including the realization of a tactile book dedicated to their child, so generating a texture of emotions and thoughts, or to express “what had not been told”

Intergenerational Learning

Intergenerational Learning


Every occasion was functional to reflect on some crucial questions: tales of birth, self-exploration as son/daughter, models and preconceptions of parents in action, becoming a parent between stories, memories and generations, educational relationship.

Has been also adopted a “thinking diary” (Mortari, 2006), devoted to the tracking of thoughts on themes around “generating a good life”, and “accompanying towards a good life”, believing that writing of the life of own mind is an effective approach – by attributing a sense to the object of thinking – in order to establish a reflexively critic relation with themselves.

Thinking diary

Laboratory sessions


6. RESULTS

The results were quite encouraging, as it appears by considering the pre- and post- self-evaluation on training path as respect to the perception of change for some indicators related respectively (a) the role and parental function, (b) some personal implications.

SELF-EVALUATION (n=14/15)Implications pertinent to the role and parenting function

8,4

8,3

8,3

7,9

7,8

7,1

7,4

7,5

6,5

7,2

6,1

7,4

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Awareness of the importance of own role as educator insociety *

Ability to comparison with others / exchange of emotionsand experiences

Ability to listen

Confidence in their capacity to share parenting **

Capacity to communicate and relate to others

Capacity to "dissolve" nodes evolutive *

Ind

icat

ors

Evaluation scale

Now Before

For what elements has been useful for you this training?

* p < 0,05** p < 0,01

SELF-EVALUATION (n=14/15)Personal implications

8,2

8,1

8,0

8,0

7,9

6,4

6,9

7,3

7,3

6,6

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Take care oneself **

Self-knowledge / awarenessof self *

Capacity to get in the gamein the interpersonal

relationships of everyday life

Capacity to express feelingsand emotions

Capacity to get involved insituations of hardship or

difficulty

Ind

ica

tors

Evaluation scale

Now Before

What aspects of your character / personality had the chance to express themselves or grow in this path training?

* p < 0,05** p < 0,01


The participants have globally valued a positive change with respect to every indicator analysed and, in some cases, the difference between averages pre- and post-intervention compared with the t Test (26 g.l) results statistically relevant.

Specifically, the parents believe that has been significantly improved:

the capacity to face and dissolve the personal emotional/evolutive blocks; the trust in the personal action capacities; the awareness with respect to the relevance of the own role as educator in society; the knowledge and awareness of themselves; the capacity to take care of themselves.

The results appear supporting the hypothesis behind the present educational proposal according to which the more effective support to parenting is obtained not much on

“empowerment of the role” but instead on the awareness of him/herself

6. RESULTS


In agreement with the objectives of ALICE, we wanted to understand whether this type of support for a reflexive and aware parenting had a strategic impact also for the strengthening and development of key-competence possessed by the parents.

In the last laboratory session was therefore carried out a group interview to explore the possible change, strengthening or awareness of some key skills involved in the pilot project.

Key competences for lifelong learning

The following graphs report the answers - grouped together by similarity - obtained

from parents: the correspondences appear in the direction desired by ALICE.

6. RESULTS


Learning to learn (KC5): ….. changed the manner you reflect on the events, on your life moments, on your feelings? Have you changed the attention that you generally put in the creation of your thoughts? If the answer is yes, how?

Social and citizenship competences (KC6): …… changed the criteria through which you relate to

the others, or you consider the diverse other modalities to act, express sentiments, life

moments, to adopt different value metrics? If the answer is yes, how?

KC5 = Learning to learn

Understanding the influence of own past in today's

actions both as a parent and as a

person26%

Accessing to own wealth of experience

and lived11%

Learn how to bring attention on

themselves and on own person

42%

Reflexivity and focus on the thoughts that underlie to thoughts

and actions21%

KC6: Social and citizenship competences

Confront and learn from the experience

of others19%

Improved the way we relate to others,

recognizing and respecting

individuality, feelings, and

experiences of the other 46%

Reflections on own judgments with

which one criticizes the neighbor without have

knowledge about him/her

19%

Reassurance about the relationship with

sons in the expression of own

actions and emotions

13%

Understanding of some of the

dynamics with own parents

6%

Dear parent, according to your opinion, this training path has in some way ………


Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship (KC7): … changed your habitual willingness and decisions regarding to your “to be” as parent, for instance through changes in the relational and educative practices with your son/daughter, by considering “risks” and “possibilities” of parenting, in understanding your effective capacity to know to anticipate events in the educative relation? If the answer is yes, in which way?

Cultural awareness and expression (KC8): … reinforced or increased in you the awareness of your knowledges, practices, capacities in action that you own, and you have been favoured in expressing it? If the answer is yes, in which way?

Dear parent, according to your opinion, this training path has in some way ………

KC7: Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship

Desire to deepen their self-awareness in order to act at own

best the parenting19%

Increased willingness to

question themselves in the

parent's role30%

Increased of attention to the

relationship with offspring and

reflection before acting 19%

Improvement of relationship and

dialogue with own sons19%

New ideas for the correction of inadequate educational behaviors

13%

KC8: Cultural awareness and expression

Awakening of the propensity

educative with an approach manual

and creative17%

Increased awareness about

own parenting skills41%

Free expression of self in the

relationship and in comparison with

others17%

Awareness of the need for continuing

education8%

Reinforcement of the link

intergenerational and awareness of

the common intergenerational

heritage17%


7. CONCLUSIONS

The active response and positive of parents to every proposal of the laboratory make us to believe that the educational paths in support to parenting are as more relevant as more they are enactive, i.e. generative of knowledge, as intended by Maturana & Varela (1984; see also Varela, Thompson & Rosch, 1992).

Margiotta (2011a,b) interprets the enaction/generativity as that process able to “make emerging of signified” and to “give shape” to the human action systems, believing that the main device able to produce it lies in reflexivity (Margiotta, 2012).

On the view of this vision and the results of the experimentation, we think that typologies of support to the parenting based on a approach both reflexive and creative could contribute to make the parents conscious of the “enactive weft” of their relational capabilities and to reinforce their role as educators.

We are convinced that the most effective parenting support is based not as much on strengthening the role (“what” knowing to do to be a parent) as the awareness of own self (“who” must be able to “be” an individual in order to act - for Winnicott's words - a “good enough” parenting).


Bibliograpy

Demetrio D. (1998). Pedagogia della memoria. Per se stessi, per gli altri. Roma: Maltemi.Margiotta U. (2011a). Prefazione. In: D. Olivieri, Mente, cervello ed educazione. Neuroscienze e pedagogia del

dialogo. Lecce: Pensa Multimedia.Margiotta U. (2011b). La pedagogia e la questione trascendentale della formazione. In: R. Minello & U.

Margiotta, Poiein. La Pedagogia e le Scienze della Formazione. Lecce: Pensa Multimedia.Margiotta U. (2012). Capacitazione e formazione. Nuovi paradigmi per la ricerca pedagogica. Relazione

presentata alla SIREF Summer School “Capability: Competenze, Capacitazione e formazione. Dopo la crisi del welfare. Ve-Mestre, 6-8 settembre 2012.

Mortari L. (2002). Aver cura della vita della mente. Milano: La Nuova Italia.Raffaghelli, J. (2012) An European strategy to implement adults’ informal learning activities for

intergenerational creative experiences, ALICE Project’s Newsletter, Issue 1, June 2012, pp. 6-10. Online: http://www.alice-llp.eu/file/1CIRDFA_2.pdf

Varela F.J., Thompson E., Rosch E. (1991). The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience. Zambianchi E. (2012). Un percorso di supporto alla genitorialità attraverso l’approccio riflessivo. ALICE Project’s

Newsletter, Issue 1, June 2012, pp. 17-21. Online: http://www.alice-llp.eu/file/1CIRDFA_4.pdf


ALICE_link

http://www.alice-llp.eu (Website) http://www.alice-llp.eu/blog (ALICE Blog)

Synthetic reports of activities carried in the parenting pilot project can be found at the ALICE Blog http://www.alice-llp.eu/blog/?p=214 and from here to the next page, click on next

Education

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