"""Légy természetes!"" - énerősítő élménypedagógiai projekt"

"<< Background >>A significant proportion of the students in our school live in socially disadvantaged, less motivated families, where they have little inspiration and support to influence their future in a positive way. Other students have learning, integration and behavioural difficulties. Our school is based on an inclusive, school model, our mission is to compensate for, or at least mitigate, the disadvantages that exist among our students. We have sought new and innovative educational solutions to this pedagogical and professional work. Among these innovative solutions, we have been keen to draw on the tools of the arts, among others. Development activities were placed outside the classroom and worked in projects. Our partner school, a Slovakian school teaching in Hungarian as a mother tongue, had similar problems with its pupils and was keen to participate in our programme. The basic concept of the project was the use of the Nature Art as a personal development „tool”.<< Objectives >>The so-called ""soft skills"" of students are difficult to develop in the traditional „classroom – environment”, so we sought a new medium where teacher-student collaboration was given a new platform and where activities allowed for more direct intervention in the positive shaping of personality traits. The aim of the project was to induce changes in the human competences of the pupils through activities that would help them to develop cooperative skills, tolerance, sensitivity towards their partners and the natural environment itself. We also help them to communicate effectively and to develop the motivation that will shape their future. VET aims to provide a workforce with competences that meet the interests and expectations of the economy, where, in addition to professional expectations, advanced soft skills are also reflected in the skills/competences/attitudes of learners. This complex personal development process was supported by the project through cooperation, activities and mobility.<< Implementation >>In order to ensure the quality of the project, we organised project management meetings, which, in addition to providing project management and governance tasks, prepared the cooperation of the professional implementers for cycle by cycle. The project consisted of three project weeks involving students from both countries, as well as partly indoor and partly outdoor art activities between the project weeks. The project weeks were structured thematically, taking into account the natural environment in which the pupils were working in each country. Each project week included a rich programme of work. Between the project weeks, the students were introduced to the Arts, including the role and possibilities of Nature Art, in their own environment and participated in indoor and outdoor activities. Their activities were supported by museum educators from the Ferenczy Museum Centre in Szentendre and the „Csallóköz Museum” in Dunaszerdahely. The activities were documented, photos and videos were taken of the students' work. At the end of the project, we held a methodological presentation for secondary schools in the region (students and teachers), informing them about the project's achievements. The event was also covered by Szentendre TV<< Results >>The basic aim of the project, through the activities carried out, was to enable students with fewer opportunities to reach a ""state of mind"" in which they themselves are empowered to take positive steps to shape their future. To achieve this, they also needed to balance their mental health, which was helped by being close to nature and by doing exercises in nature. The changes in the students' personalities were verified by comparing and analysing the results of an input and an output measure.The teachers, social workers and school psychologists involved in the project have developed and tested a non-traditional but effective approach to personal development.The methodology of competence development through the use of Nature Art as a pedagogical method was introduced to school representatives in the region."