Human Rights and Values: establishment, structuring and implementation of a physical education program for promoting the concepts of "responsibility and respect" in Six-Year Old Children

The purpose of this study was to approach and promote the concepts of responsibility and respect in children of 6 years old through the establishment, structuring and implementation of a program that had an emphasis on... [ view full abstract ]

The purpose of this study was to approach and promote the concepts of responsibility and respect in children of 6 years old through the establishment, structuring and implementation of a program that had an emphasis on physical education. Specifically, the program included the creation of a positive learning environment with provision of support, emotional security, and integration of non-exclusion activities, establishment of rules of behavior, comparison with previous performances of ourselves, personalization of  activities depending on the interests of children, feedback of behavior, maintaining of positive expectations, cooperation with all, traditional games and dances from different countries, teaching about conflict resolution. Additionally they were used techniques of cause effect, moral dilemma, personal perspective, and the perspective of the windows of Socrates' dialectical method 'why'. 24 children (13 boys, 11 girls) of a public kindergarten in the city of Ioannina participated. Before implementing the program parents and the authorities of the primary education were informed and they had given their consent. The program was implemented for three months in the spring of 2016 and took place twice a week for about 30 minutes. The method of semi-structured interview was used for the initial and final assessment of the approach of the concepts of respect and responsibility in children. The evaluation of the program showed that children initially knew a few things, but afterwards they knew more about the value of these concepts and actions for the welfare of society at large. Children learned to be more observant as they participated and watched the debates, the activities,. Also, they approached concepts interdisciplinary (language, literature, history, folklore, geography). They developed the visual motor ability of orientation in space, the joint capabilities and it seemed that they liked the program very much.