A special relationship exists between Israel and the Chilean Ministry of Education. While MASHAV's Spanish-language international courses have included participants from Chile from the very start in 1958, in recent years the Government of Chile, through its Ministry of Education, has sought to send its educators to courses tailor-made for Chileans. Three of the institutions offering MASHAV courses were happy to comply. This last year, 2000, the Aharon Ofri International Training Center in Kibbutz Ramat Rachel near Jerusalem, whose expertise is in adult education, offered "Study Planning and Curriculum Development" and "Community Education" to Chilean educators. Peoples - The International Institute of the Histadrut at Beit Berl College in Kfar Saba, whose expertise is non-formal education, education for democracy and empowerment of civil society, offered "Insertion of Participatory Models into Formal Education." And the Golda Meir Mount Carmel International Training Center (MCTC) in Haifa, whose expertise is early childhood education (ECE) and community development, offered "The Educator and the Preschool Child in Play, Science, Literature and Art."
Although international courses in these subjects have been given by MASHAV in English, Spanish and French, along with a variety of other specialized courses, the Chilean Ministry of Education's specific desire was to cooperate with Israel in these areas. Participants included Chilean educational planners, administrators and university professors, inspectors and counselors; directors of kindergartens, nursery schools and other educational frameworks. The author of this article, Director for Spanish courses at MCTC and expert in ECE, describes the recent course in Haifa.
In November 2000, for the fifth time in a row, a group of 25 women, all nursery school educators, arrived at MCTC in Haifa, accompanied by their Chilean coordinators. They were some of the 128 participants who had received scholarships from the Foreign Scholarships Program of the Chilean Education Ministry. They came to observe the work of their Israeli colleagues and to share problems common to other professionals in this field.
Those of us who had the pleasure of working with them wished to afford them dynamic experiences of observation and exchange that would allow them to revitalize their role as creators of effective situations for active learning, with an emphasis on art, play, science and literature. We offered them some theoretical and practical elements for innovation in these areas, as well as approaches and techniques for the integration of the families and the community in the work of the kindergarten. For instance, we started out with lectures and discussions on early child development from birth to three years of age, psycho-pedagogic principles in current early educational didactics and the role of the kindergarten as a space for emotional development. From there we went on in the coming days to talk about mathematical concepts for preschool children, literature, music, sensorimotoric development and environmental risks. We had a workshop on games made from discarded or low-cost materials, we experimented with water, light and shade and speech development, and we discussed the outlook for the future.
The process that the participants underwent was interesting and positive. Initially, two types of reaction to the contact with different ways of working were observed: on one hand, interest and curiosity; on the other, apprehension at incorporating changes in work patterns with which they felt familiar and therefore safe. In many cases they also had doubts about the practical possibility of introducing innovations, since, for the most part, they have little space, many pupils in a room and small budgets.
The MCTC staff and teachers have worked in similar circumstances. During on-the-spot courses in various countries, they visit a variety of schools and take an interest in these particular problems. Accordingly, they were able to relate to the interesting analyses that the trainees made regarding ways of adapting methods to their own needs rather than adopting Israeli methods, using the human and material resources available to them in their own work environments. In parallel, in very dynamic and lively workshops, the role of the teacher was analyzed.
All this helped participants to reexamine some aspects of their work and to understand that good results do not necessarily depend on the large spaces or materials that they observed here in Israel, but rather on the creation of appropriate stimuli with the materials at their disposal and a suitable approach by the teacher.
As the course progressed, changes were observed in the contributions made by the educators in class and in the type of questions asked during the study trips. We visited a number of frameworks for early childhood education such as a musical kindergarten in Acco, a center for literature and artistic activity for children and parents in Haifa, a center for integrated music, science and art for young children in Migdal Haemek and a teacher training center.
When they were asked after several weeks to role play routine situations in the kindergarten classroom, the changes produced in the educators' approach and attitudes were very evident. These changes were expressed in the proposals that they presented at the end of the course for innovation in or improvement of different aspects of their work.
Some of the themes most frequently selected for the proposals were:
Adapting of spaces and materials.
Holding events where parents, educators and children can learn together.
Learning by play and experiment.
Recovery of cultural values of the region through literature or music.
Integration of parents and representatives in actual work in the classroom.
Readapting approaches, techniques and materials to foster learning,
.... and more.
We receive many letters and photographs from the Chilean educators, in which they tell us of the large and small innovations that they carry out.
Gloria Carrillo of Temuco tells us: "...When I came back home, I knocked on doors so that what was a dream in my proposal is a reality today. We have few resources but very clear goals..."
Alicia Cuevas, of Tocopilla, tells us of the introduction of her science project in the kindergarten: "The children of Tocopilla enjoy what they discover and experience daily... The mothers also collaborate and they too are acquiring relevant and meaningful learning. I am happy with what I am achieving and appreciate the interest shown by other colleagues..."
Margarita Rodriguez writes from Peumo: "I have improved activities that I was already carrying out and I have created new strategies to interest my children in art and music... I feel a change in my role as a teacher and in general in my professional life..."
We could cite many more examples. These are only some of the most recent letters received. They attest, above all, to a change in the teachers' attitude towards the children. If we have achieved this, we are satisfied.
Certainly, the Scholarship Program will be able to assess the teachers and above all to stimulate them to continue their professional development that requires time and further study, but that can give the positive results for which we all hope.