Think Creative - Issue 7

The whole child and beyond

The whole child approach opens doors for more students to succeed.

In rural Mozambique, Felix Francisco and his 5-year-old son, Atanásio, sit on the ground beneath a tree with other families. A facilitator guides them through activities that get them dancing, singing and —most importantly — talking. Rarely seen inmuch of Mozambique, these enriching conversations between kids and their parents are critical to children’s development. Francisco and his son are participating in a Vamos Ler! /Let’s Read! community activity that works in tandemwith this USAID program’s ef- forts in the classroomand the national Bilingual Education Strategy. It is this type of compre- hensive approach that Creative strives for when designing results-driven education projects. “There used to be the ‘students-in-seats’ idea that if they were in school that was enough, but we know now that it isn’t,” says Janet Shriberg, Ed.D., M.P.H., Creative’s Senior Advisor of Child Protection andWell-Being. Karen Tietjen, Principal Technical Advisor for Creative’s Education Division, developed the “whole school, whole teacher, whole child” ap- proach. The approach was introduced in 2012 as part of the USAID Read to Succeed project in Zambia, which included funding from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Tietjen and her team crafted their holistic approach to marry the health and education components. This methodology is now the cornerstone of Creative’s education programs. “Our whole child, whole teacher, whole school approach recognizes that for learning to take place you have to provide the conditions that enable the child to learn in the classroom, at the school, at home and in the community,” says Tietjen. Two critical aspects Creative looks at are the different parts of a child’s wellbeing (physi- cal, social, emotional and cognitive) and the stakeholders in the school ecosystemwho are able to support learning (students, parents, teachers, school directors, communities and the government). Creative-implemented projects across the world are engaging these stakeholders to address needs and encourage participation in creating the conditions necessary for student success.

“Our whole child, whole teacher, whole school approach recognizes that for learning to take place you have to provide the conditions that enable the child to learn.”

Karen Tietjen, Principal Technical Advisor for Creative’s Education Division

poverty over the last decade. Students do not enroll, attend or remain in school as they grapple with the effects of hunger, violence and displacement. Combined with other issues — disability, mi- nority language, gender and ethnic marginal- ization — schools are unprepared to cope with factors that prevent attendance and learning.

“We know that educators, parents and com- munities can all teach the students, as well as

enable them to learn,” says Tietjen. Catering to the whole child

A number of shocks in Ethiopia, from drought to regional conflict, have contributed to an increase in the number of people living in

Photo by JimHuylebroek

16 | Think Creative | Spring 2020