During their first eight years, the children face significant changes related to their learning spaces, their social groups, their roles, and their expectations. One of the their decisive moments involves no longer being preschoolers and going to primary school, where they must assume and handle cognitive, physical, and emotional changes in order to adapt to the new experiences of this new phase.
In 2017, Genesis Foundation saw the need to create a program to manage the children transitions, understanding that handling such transition is a challenge not only for the child but for the parents and the schools upon having to lead specific actions that will allow establishing a path for such transition and will provide quality, pertinence, and opportunity for their development, according to their needs, interests, and learning achievements.
Based on all this, la Gran Transición program was created in alliance with Promigas, already implemented in the municipalities of Ciénaga and Aracataca in the department of Magdalena, facilitating the transition of 1,300 children, 65 teachers, and 100 parents to formal school, thanks to the strengthening of the schools with respect to pedagogical, nutritional, management, and development aspects, which also reduce the number of school dropouts or repeating students.
The program has built an institutional and inter-institutional path guaranteeing a healthy and effective transition for the students at their families, through specific actions such as:
Training to the preschool and first grade teachers in order to transform their classroom practices.
Support to the schools so that they will work on the actions they will be carrying out based on their plans and programs, in order to build a path that will aid the transition.
Together with the teachers, find a common ground between the initial and formal education, in order to design and implement the necessary strategies.
"La Gran Transición has made me see the professional that I am and has taught me many things and strategies I can use in the classroom. I have again learned what to do; it has been a transforming element for me to realize that the child is a being and that with their knowledge they make the learning process more pleasant. I learned that their feelings should be respected and that their arguments and ideas are valuable. Treating everyone well benefits them and me both. When I treat them well, I treat myself well and see peace in my heart", said Norma Lozano, a first grade teacher and participant of the Great Transition.
With La Gran Transición, we wish to emphasize the importance of strengthening dialogue and participation between the family and the school, so that their integral development will be their first priority. Frequently, during their education the children receive significant support and active participation from their family during their early childhood. However, in time it would seem that such a relationship begins to fade away, the children then being responsible for their grades and their school performance.
The teachers and the parents or caretakers support should be ongoing, encouraging the children to tackle the many challenges brought by the changes and diminish their anxieties or fears arising from such transition.
From Genesis Foundation, we hope that this year La Gran Transición implementation will make the communities aware of the activities carried out by the program for the early childhood. It is our intent to continue strengthening the school teams, socialize the strengths and successful practices, develop workshops for the teachers with support at the classroom and workshops for the parents, in order to make them part of their children transition process.
"La Gran Transición has helped us focus the children's learning. It has not been easy to unlearn the learning schemes we have been working with. I was used to teach as I had been taught, without realizing that I must see the community and the children as human beings. I had forgotten to search for empathy with the children. The Great Transition reminded me that such empathy is the main reason of our work", said Maria de Lourdes Quintero, a transition grade teacher and a participant of The Great Transition program.
We are proud to be helping the teachers to retake and strengthen activities that will allow them to respond to the children's needs during their early years, giving them a chance to have a quality education that will positively aid their development and growth.
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