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Part-time Training Course in Kyrgyzstan

If you look at the map on the double continent of Eurasia, you can find the small country of Kyrgyzstan almost in the middle of it. This small state was established in 1991 directly after the collapse of the Soviet Union. High mountains (some more than 7000 m) and fertile valleys determine not only the climate of the country but also the character and the different relationships between people.

In Kyrgyzstan, where the paths of the Silk Road crossed the life of the people has always been full of contrasts and contradictions. Different peoples with different languages, cultures and religions live together or side by side. It is therefore not surprising that everything that happens here reflects the entire world surrounding Kyrgyzstan, mirroring it like in a magic crystal. Probably for this reason the works of the Kyrgyz writer Chingiz Aitmatov belong, according to the UNESCO,  to the most widely read books in the world today. Here the author writes about events and people who live in a small republic in the middle of Central Asia.

The children of the first Waldorf school in the USSR at the Children's Centre Nadezhda in Kyrgyzstan had great luck - Chingiz Aitmatov was honorary president of the school where the teachers and educators tried, with the help of Waldorf education, to provide children, some of them disabled,  with different nationalities, religions and languages, the same learning opportunities.

From the beginning this integrative Waldorf school was attended by a variety of children. It was the first Waldorf school ever to have received the status of an associated School by the UNESCO since 1991. But times have changed.

A number of educators left the Children's Centre Nadezhda and established their own kindergartens for healthy children that were oriented on Waldorf pedagogy. The interest in Waldorf education began to grow. And since the year 2003 each year a Central Asian forum and seminar is held in Bishkek in June, open to all Waldorf initiatives from the other Central Asian republics.

Inspired by the PISA study, the Kyrgyz state also began to show interest for our education. The Kyrgyz state was the only country in Central Asia to perform the PISA study in 2006.
All participants in the educational process in Kyrgyzstan were then clear that an educational reform had to come. And already in 2009 the work on the new national curriculum was completed. This curriculum is clearly focused on the acquisition of skills instead of the previous acquisition of graded knowledge.

In 2006, the director of the Children Centre Nadezhda, Karla-Maria Schälike, was invited by the Kyrgyz Ministry of Education as an expert to create the new standards for preschool education. In 2007 the Kyrgyz Ministry of Education invited on recommendation of Karla-Maria Schälike one of the teachers of the Stuttgart Kindergarten Seminar, Peter Lang, to Kyrgyzstan. And in the fall of 2007 Waldorf part time courses for educators and lower grade teachers began at the Arabajewa University in Bishkek. The Kyrgyz Ministry of Education, the IASWECE and the center for alternative and free education at the Gert-Michael-Fond signed a joint memorandum. UNICEF funded the participation of leaders in the kindergarten from the southern parts of the country (Batken region) since 2007, both at the Waldorf-Central Asian forum and seminars as well as the in-service course at the University Arabajewa.

The interest in Waldorf education was so strong that instead of the expected 30 participants, 45 people have registered for the course. As expected, some left the course over time. But in their place new subscribers came from the former capital of Kazakhstan, Alma Ata. At the end of the first two-year block, more than 30 participants continued to regularly attend the courses. The mixture of the participants is also very interesting. The courses are both attended by kindergarten teachers as well as directors of major state kindergartens, teachers from private kindergartens and village kindergartens, as well as lecturers from the faculty of  Arabajewa University, and primary school teachers.

In 2010 the course is offered as practical training in the various kindergartens under the guidance of experienced foreign kindergarten teachers and an experienced lecturer, Dr. Wolfgang Auer. In addition to practical guidance these teachers will accompany the coursework that each of the participants will participate in at the seminar in the fall. For the year 2011 more courses and an official end with a subsequent thesis are planned.

 

Project leaders:

Igor Iljitsch Schälike (nadeshda@elcat.kg)

Dr. Wolfgang Auer (wolfgangmauer@yahoo.de)