The program “Safing: Building safe and inclusive learning environments at school” has started and the first workshops were implemented with the participation of the amazing, multilingual and multi-talented students of the 4th, 5th and 6th grades of the 21st, 22nd and 35th Primary Schools of Athens.
Having completed the first 2 - or even 3 in some cases - sessions of the program with the participation of approximately 100 children in the thematic units "Introducing myself and Discovering my classroom" and "Our classroom: A safe space", we report doing the following:
- Got acquainted with participants through games and experiential learning activities
- Conducted a survey on how they find it easier to learn
- Encouraged participants to connect to their classrooms through their 5 senses, daydreaming, observation and music
- Talked about children's rights and explored the articles of the UN Convention that find applications in the classroom
- Created tools for safer coexistence in the classroom, such as each group's Constitution, classroom sound meters, personal reflection journals, and stop signs to ensure personal boundaries.
- Used all the tools through experiential learning activities
- Identified words that hurt, so we could arrive at words that bring joy
- Got up, moved, drew, listened to musics from all over the world, translated into all the languages of the class
- Through these activities and the interaction with participating children, our educational team has already learned a lot:
- Thank you in Ethiopian (Amharic) is: āmeseginalehu (አመሰግናለሁ)
- "I" in Tigrinya (spoken in Eritrea and Ethiopia) is similar to "I" in Arabic, because the two languages are related.
- Many children imagine their classroom to be safer when they have people around who love them, such as their friends or their teacher.
- Most children focus on emotional rather than physical safety when talking about safety in their classroom (e.g. being able to be themselves, not being afraid of being judged, being able to listen and be heard, etc.)
- Many children concentrate better while drawing. Almost 100 out of 100 children love doing things with their hands: crafts, crochet, collage, clay, cooking!
The children in the participating schools speak over 12 different languages and write in over 5 different writing systems.
Special mention
- to the fourth grade of the 35th elementary school who stood up as a whole, raising a thunderous NO against discrimination, racism, and the censorship of heritage languages.
- to the fourth grade of the 22nd primary school of Athens for the wonderful journals they made and decorated with collages and for the languages they are teaching us.
- to the fifth grade of the 21st elementary school of Athens for their universal participation, ideas and opinions.
- to the sixth grade of the 35th elementary school of Athens, who showed us that children can participate in unexpected ways and focus when you least expect.
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Lead Partner: Eurochild and Terre des hommes (Tdh)
Type: Subgranting CERV - EU Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme
Project title: Building Safe and Inclusive learning environments - “SafIng”
Start: 01/07/2025 – End: 30/06/2026
Project Reference: 101138279
Grant: 30.000 EUR
This project has received funding from the European Union’s CERV programme with the Grant Agreement No. 101138279. The Daphne-CHILD programme is a collaborative initiative led by Eurochild and Terre des hommes (Tdh).
