Educate in variability. Project “ PLAYING IN MY COUNTRY. Different ways of being a Child in Argentina.”

NOCETI, M, BELEN GARCÍA DANIELA, GUTIERREZ AYESTA, V: LATORRE, A

Agrigento, Sicilia Italia

Congreso; Children and Young people in changing world. A holistic approach; 2001

Internationa Union of antropology and ethnography sciences, Team work on children

Session:  6 Title: Educate in variability. Project “ PLAYING IN MY COUNTRY. Different ways of being a Child in Argentina.”  Authors:    Noceti Ma. Belén,  Colaborators: García Daniela, Gutiérrez Ayesta Verónica and  Latorre Analía   Country: Argentina Address: Plaza Sarmiento Nro 5         cp. 1900               city      La Plata Phone: 54-221-4534906 e-mail: serhumano_org@yahoo.com.ar The NGO SER HUMANO together with the Institute of Child’s Rights at National University of La Plata is developing an interdisciplinary Project called “ Playing in my Country, Different ways of being a Child in Argentina”. The main purpose is to elaborate an action- research project towards the respect of Identity. It is being done in public schools and between pupils of different cultural background. We are trying to explore different ways of  being a child in our country studying cultural variability. The results are going to be used to produce didactic material for the treatment of social issues at schools, as identity, culture, democracy, ethnic relations, pluricultural state, International Convention on the Rights of Child. Our work is an interdisciplinary approach trying to consolidate a holistic view about childhood. There are professionals coming from social, natural, humanities and Art Sciences. This project is the result of an intensive work -since 1992- on alternative education techniques inside public schools. During this work we had find that: a)      classroom is composed of pupils with diverse  cultural framework   b)      discrimination and inequality situations are present at classrooms c)      teachers don’t know how to save the differences between children. d) teachers demand different kinds of instruments (conceptual, didactic), to resolve  or to manage discrimination situation. We designed this project following the concept of Childhood as a heterogeneous notion, considering it as a main process on the development of Identity[5]. Our work is being done by workshops at public schools, pointed to: 1) children 2) parents and teachers Topics of these workshops are issues belonging to: a) culture and identity like: games, preferences, expectations believes, language, traditional stories,  songs and  foods,  family history. b) cultural diversity like:  what is different, tolerance, peace. c) International Convention on the rights of the Child, right of being different, rol of school, rol of family upon the promotion of Rights.. Through this project we considered that education must be pluricultural. We expect to educate on differences and not just about those who are different. Over different legislation reforms since the consolidation of democratic government, Argentina presents itself as a Pluricultural State. It is necessary  to build the empirical instruments through which the letter will be able to be read on practices