Due to the high demand for the online course Ethics Education for Children: A Transformative Pedagogy for Learning to Live Together held in June 2020, the Geneva office decided to offer a second round of the course in English as well as in Spanish, adapted to the Latin America and Caribbean region.
The second round in English took place from 25 August to 7 September 2020, with over 250 people registered from over 40 countries. This time, the course included a second live webinar to foster dialogue and peer to peer learning.
The facilitation team included Ms. Prabha Karthik (India), Mr. Charles Mwaniki (Kenya) and Ms. Laura Molnar (Romania) from the pool of Learning to Live Together Global Trainers and was led by Mr. Suchith Abeyewickreme, Ethics Education Program Coordinator, Arigatou International Geneva.
The Spanish course that took place from 14 to 25 September 2020 received 339 applications from 14 countries and was facilitated by Mr. Larry Madrigal (El Salvador), Ms. Monica Bernal (Ecuador) and Mr. Marcelo Neira (Chile). The course was led by Ms. Vera Leal, Senior Program Officer on Ethics Education, Arigatou International Geneva. The course was adapted with new materials and adapted to fit the context in Latin America and the Caribbean.
During the online course, participants got acquainted with the Arigatou International Ethics Education Framework and pedagogical approach and how it responds to the needs of the current context. They shared each other’s contexts during the COVID-19 pandemic and implications on children and education.
Throughout the course, participants learned how to create safe, positive and empowering learning environments and opportunities for children and youth while fostering interfaith learning and collaboration. They identified concrete ways to strengthen children’s ability to reflect on the current situation and respond to the ethical challenges during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic.
By the end of the two weeks, participants developed strategies to ensure children’s socio-emotional and spiritual well-being and to empower them as agents of positive change.
“Thank you very much for your generosity in inviting us to this experience of learning to unlearn and re-learn. It is fascinating to have been with other teachers from other places, in this stage of a pandemic that has isolated us, and locked us in. This space opened a window of inspiration and hope. I will create spaces for active listening, I will accompany the process of development of critical thinking, imagination, and proposals for the well-being of the community. I will be a teacher practicing horizontal teaching rather than vertical,” said one of the participants.
We thank the team of facilitators that helped us carry out these online courses with such passion and commitment, and the participants for devoting their time and energy to learning more about ethics education for children.