Calmamente program integrates Gulbenkian Knowledge Academies
About 500 students from the Abel Salazar School Group, in Matosinhos, saw this socio-emotional education program as part of their academic year.
Called “Calmamente® – Aprendendo a Aprender-se”, the program began to be implemented in the middle of a pandemic and is promoted by the Mind of Beginner, an association with intervention in personal development since childhood. Co-financed by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the project is taking place in four schools, in a total of 19 classes and involves students aged between 8 and 11 years. In the distance learning phase, the program continues to be promoted in an online format.
Nowadays, it is even more fundamental to educate children and young people to see the world, from the inside out. Being an agent of change in the area of socio-emotional education has always been the purpose of Mente de Principiante, an association based in Maia, which promotes integral well-being, especially in the school and community context.
The mission and projects developed have been recognized at the national level, but the greatest achievement comes with the integration of the Program “Calmamente® – Aprendendo a Aprender-se” in curricular hours in public schools. The socio-emotional education project that is now being implemented was also selected from more than 300 applications, to integrate the Academies Gulbenkian of Knowledge project, with the support of the Foundation in its co-financing and permanent monitoring during its intervention.
Promoting emotional literacy in the approximately 500 students integrated in the project, as well as enhancing communication skills, empathy and problem solving are the main objectives of the Program, which involves the participation of students in the 3rd, 4th and 5th years of schooling in Basic Education from the Ermida Schools, Padre Manuel Castro, Igreja Velha and Maria Manuela de Sá, from the Abel Salazar School Group, in São Mamede de Infesta, Matosinhos.
“It motivates us to share, balance, knowledge and emotion. This is the motto of our Beginner’s Mind Academy. Based on this principle, we bring children and young people fundamental tools in the fields of self-knowledge, emotional and social development, an educational work that we see as an added value in this difficult phase that we are all going through.” Stresses Andreia Espain, founder of Associação Mente de Principiante and responsible for the authorship and coordination of the ‘Calmamente® – Aprendendo a Aprender-se’ program and the creation of various educational programs and materials with the HAPPY ZONE® insignia.
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