The Stories about the power of difference Project is implemented by the Association "Reflective Learning - Bulgaria" in the period August - November 2022 and is financially supported by the Metropolitan Municipality, the "Europe 2022" Program. Within the framework of the project, we conducted a survey among the students of the fifth, sixth and seventh graders of the three metropolitan schools to find out more about how they deal with aggression at school and in life, and what are the topics they want to talk about with friends and classmates.
What did we learn from the children?
First of all, that violence is a topic that affects them. They experience it personally either through their friends or when they simply witness it in school. Secondly, they need to talk about it both with adults and with each other. In the polls, they talk about forms of violence in their relationships - insults, humiliation, non-acceptance and rejection, searching for oneself. They ask why people are violent and what motivates such behavior. The topic is important to them, at a crucial stage in their lives, when they are searching for their identity, looking for ways to express themselves and be accepted by their peers. Relationships with friends and classmates are extremely important because they help the growing person to understand about himself, from the way others receive him, how they reflect him and whether they approve of him. The survey shows that aggression and violence are part of these relationships, and they are most often manifested in school relationships. That is why they are so important to them and there is a need for a space where they can share and talk about them. Aggression also manifests itself outside of school - in hidden alleys, in social networks, where there is no framework set by the school institution and where aggression is contained through the rules and the intervention of adults. In the survey, they ask about the need to learn to cope, to react against aggression, and this is an extremely important question that is often underestimated. Therefore, the project "Stories about the power of difference" aims to open up opportunities in school to talk more about the topics of aggression and violence, and for young people to freely use their language for this on difficult but current topics, topics that are vitally important, but taboo. Discussing and analyzing topics relevant to young people related to gender-based violence and other types of violence is a way to overcome prejudice and stereotyped thinking and behaviour.
Within the framework of the project, three student clubs for debating and storytelling were created, in which students from the fifth, seventh and especially sixth grades participate in order to learn and develop skills on how to express themselves, argue and defend their thesis. Both methods develop extremely useful skills in children, which they can transfer to their relationships with each other. Students and teachers participate in a podcast and talk about the topic of aggression and violence in school, parts of which will be broadcast at the project's final event. It will be held on 11.11.2022 at 145. Elementary School "Simeon Radev" in Sofia.
You can find more about the project here: https://reflectivelearningbg.com/proekti/proekt-stolichna-obshtina/