"Buiten School" (dutch: "out of school") is a concept developed by ULMUS that we are realizing in different forms with different partners.
The intention was to create an educational program, where students of different age-groups can learn relation- and experience-based about topics like biology, waterecology, biological cycles etc) by actually being and working outside, e.g. on a farm or in a forest. Simultanousely the didactical method implies working with personal development - issues of the children, like social behaviour, moral attitude and self-esteem.
Many children suffer the loss of age-based development-input in the nowadays structure of a normal school-day: Group-dynamics and personal development are hardly adressed issues and the lessons are mostly appealing on cognitive abilities and are theoretical and abstract. Additionally the children are forced to sit still a long stretch of time parallel to physical classes being removed from time-schedules on more and more schools: physical motion, body-coordination, sport and other forms of natural output of energy, which are very important for all children, are neither being promoted nor provided.
We see great risks in that way of teaching children, because it is actually denying other forms of intellect (cognitive ability is just one form of intelligence; nowadays far more types of intellect are known, e.g. physical intelligence, social intelligence, artistic intelligence, musical intelligence and more). Furthermore we can see, that children are signalizing shortcomings on physical education and practice as well, given that we dare to interpret indicators like over-weight and ADHD a little different or better: a little more holistic.
"Out of school" wants to offer a platform for outside school activities that yet teach topics from "inside the classroom", by making them practically experiencable. By doing that we are also considering individual key-processes and group-dynamics as it comes to personal development, to enhance the class-cohersion as well as the identity and self-esteem of each individual.
Our concept is momentarely used in 3 different projects with different partners:
- integrationprogramm for mental weak and disabled youth that drop out of school without diploma and with no option for further education.
- "Learn-Camps" for children between the age 8 - 14. Those camps are offered during school-periodes for class-trips, work-weeks etc as well as during vacation-periodes to provide meaningful leisuretime while parents are working.
- Daycare for small children (age 0 - 4) to give a relief to working parents by not only looking after the children but by fostering the ideal development of the child.