There are different concepts of education and each of them is trying to act for the benefit of the integral development of the individual. There is a well known pedagogy, which has been developed by pedagogue of German roots, Kurt Hahn. It was designed based on personal experiences and responses to social developments in the first half of the twentieth century. Its main purpose is to create an independent, responsible, tolerant and compassionate person who would bring out the best out of them based on their personal goals.
Based on the Hahn’s philosophy MEPI program (Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award) was developed, which is included in more than 70 primary and secondary schools in Slovenia and it is carried out under the auspices of Društvo MEPI. In schools it is carried out by teachers who are trained as mentors and instructors. Young people from the fourteenth to twenty-five years of age can join this program.
As we have observed positive effects on young people, who were engaged in the program, and because we believe it can be an excellent complement to course of social studies, we decided to design a one-year program for fifth grade of primary school based on MEPI. The program includes action plan by months for one school year and a manual with preparations for the execution of thirty contact hours between mentor and participants. In preparation of activities, we followed mainly curriculum for fifth grade course of social studies, and the concept of the MEPI program. In the first part we included activities for the development of individual skills and in the second part activities to develop teamwork skills. This section is devoted to the preparations for the expedition, under which students acquire knowledge in the field of spatial orientation and mapping as well as through various challenges of social skills.
We tried to design a program that would be interesting and instructive for students and for mentors the program represented a possibility, how to establish contact with young people at a little less formal way. We hope and we wish that this program is tested in practice by as many mentors as possible, for this purpose we will share written guide with all interested parties.
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