Research Project and Partnership Proposal ASIA 2010.

THE PROJECT: Observing and documenting Play in different zones of Asia

WHY: to gather information to consolidate our experience and to establish the co-natural aspects of play for the human being. To delve fur-ther into play mechanisms associated with learning and check whether or not the conditions developed in our setting based on Formulation* are universal.

THE NEEDS nothing is required for observation, as we can observe in the street, but we would like access to an existing place where people play (schools, community centres…).

On the other hand, we would like to contact groups of people to take part in the play sessions as part of a workshop. We would also need a venue for that experiment.

PARTNERSHIP: We are ready to carry out any task deemed appropriate to return the favour of your having given us your time, re-sources and energy. We speak English and Spanish, we are educators (with experience with children and adult education), we know how to cook and we can always share our knowledge about Expression Semiology, natural learning processes and Formulation and their role in developing human capacities

**A document is attached as an introduction to Creator Education where these concepts are explained in greater detail.

Even though that is our main objective, we would also like to use this opportunity to contact people and communi-ties to get their input on skills training for children and youths (decision-taking, governance, entrepreneurship…)

and/or who are involved in Alternative Education Experience.

Solasgune. Research and Educational Resources www.herrigune.org & www.solasgune.com

Solasgune is a research and educational resource company that has been providing educational resources and services for 14 years.

Solasgune uses the principles of Creator Education to provide individuals and institutions with services related to collective and personal development and learning.

>> For the last 10 years, we have been working with municipal and community authorities(Community Educational Policy). We have designed and managed programmes related to participation, autonomy, sustainability, cooperation and safety, etc., with special emphasis on children’s needs and situation, but we also work with adults and communities.

>> We organise complementary activities related to personal drift and expression in and out of school.

>> Our research work has involved advising and working with individuals and organisations from other spheres, such as the business, trade union and health sectors.

>> Another of the Solasgune work areas is research and advising families and professionals on the different aspects of upbringing.

>> Solasgune also offers Creator Education and Expression workshops in Leioa, organises Training Courses and Seminars and is a founding member of ZERNORA (Institute for the Research, Fostering and Dissemination of Creator Education and Arno Stern´s work).

Pedro Blanco,Bilbao, 19 February 1973.pedro@solasgune.com

Pedro Blanco is the member of the Solasgune team who will carry out the research in Asia. Pedro is an educator and expression semiologist. He studied Pedagogy, Philosophy and Drama.

He has completed courses in many different fields related to Education, Expression, Childhood, Community Development and Regional Structures (with Arno Stern, Giselle Barret, Lola Poveda, Francesco Tonucci, Miguel Castro, Marga Iñiguez, among others).

In recent years, he has mainly focused his work on two fields: - Play and Learning Processes. - Childhood and Community.

Pedro is the founding partner of Solasgune, where he has been working as an educator since 1997.

Pedro has visited Nepal, India, China, Tibet, Laos and Thailand since he began to travel in Asia in 2000.

Introduction to Creator Education

Solasgune. Educational Resources and ResearchAldapa 7, Leioa. 94 4029780

“There are games that, organised as performances, are destroyed to become artistic activities. That is the case of children’s games where they take on the role of characters, act out stories and move in space. It would seem that the only option is to become actors (in the case of the few) or spectators (for the majority).” J. Miguel Castro.

“It is essential now to ensure that the child does not develop the habit of showing off (…) Sharing with is, in all aspects, more healthy than performing before. Dramatic expression can take a fatal twist and can be very disturbing not only for the child in the years to come, but also for the adults who have to live in the same society with him”. Peter Slade

“Human intelligence is animal intelligence transformed by freedom. Constructing intelligence, freedom and creator subjectivity go hand in hand”. José Antonio Marina.

T h e C r e a t o r E d u c a t i o n a n d E x p r e s s i o n W o r k s h o p s are where everyone can feel safe and work, without depending on a model, in line with their needs and abilities. The space is free of models, comparisons and opinions where the individuals can satisfy their need to express and grow while being themselves.

The following points seek to summarise the origins, technical aspects of Creator Education and the practical aspects – the way in which the Creator Education and Expression Works-hops are structured.

The origin of the Creator Education and Expression Workshops lies in the work and research of Arno Stern and the subsequent contributions by other people.

After the Second World War, Arno Stern had to work at a centre for orphans in Fontenay.

As he had no prior training in the field of Education and given the few available resources, he “got them” painting. An attitude of listening to the needs of the children and their structural contributions were the origin of conditions that would be the basis of our current work in Creator Education.

In 1967, Arno Stern set off on his research trips around the world.

He made a list of the “objects-images” and wondered if people whose life is radically different, such as no-mads or people living deep in the jungle, would depict the same or other object-images. And if that were the case, if they would do so in the same way as the people who live in the city.

He spent twelve years visiting primitive native populations, where the criteria was that they had not been subject to any type of schooling and there was no risk of their drawings being influenced in any way.

Right from the start, he was struck by the repetition of the same objects in the hundred of paintings that children made. He noted that they all painted houses, trees, flowers, the sun, figures, animals, vehicles…

He went on eight expeditions: Mauritania, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Niger, New Guinea and Canada (on an Indian reserve)

He collected a lot of documents and as a result of all this work, he discovered that the drawing of primitive figures is universal. He also found out that the drawings of human, animals and other objects by the residents of those places have standard-configurations, that is, similar to those produced by children in our society, as he had discovered and classi-fied.

Arno Stern had discovered Formulation.

Basing his work on the “Closlieu” (his painting workshop in Paris) and on the results of his trips, Arno Stern established the existence of a universal code. This code, that he called For-mulation, is related to the genetic code.

Formulation appears very quickly from the moment that the child is able to produce drawings on a surface. It then develops in a programmed way into the

- Primary figures where there is no intention of representation, then into the

- Objects-Images where the child develops the game of representation and much later in adults with - The Essential Figures where the representation has disappeared.

Expression semiology studies and explains this complex expression.

Formulation, the set of drawings, mechanisms and laws that determine

its configuration and evolution,is a universal, structured

and autonomous system.

*Radial (and spiny) figures. Peru. 1968 *Radial figure. Paris. 2001

*Rad

ial fi

gure

s in

Obj

ects

-Imag

es.

Paris

(199

9) a

nd A

fgha

nist

an (1

969)

In 1986, A r n o S t e r n created the IRSE (Institute for Expression Semiology Research), whose main objective is to define “Formulation”, establish its origins and implications, and disco-ver how it works.

In 1995, the Arno Stern Foundation is set up in Switzerland.

Arno Stern began to disseminate his knowledge over 40 years ago. Every year, he travels throughout Europe giving conferences and running training courses. He regular runs courses and conferences around the world and is invited to speak at many congresses. He also worked as a UNESCO technical expert in an advisory role for professionals and takes part in international working parties.

His dissemination and training work has led to around 3000 Creator Education areas being set up in Europe alone.

In 2009 members of Diraya and Solasgune set up the Zernora Insitute in Bilbao - Spain Links to his last visit to Bilbao:

- http://www.guggenheim-bilbao.es/secciones/proyectos_educativos/anyo_2007_video.php?idioma=en&video=02creatividad_educacion_creadora - http://www.guggenheim-bilbao.es/secciones/proyectos_educativos/anyo_2007_video.php?idioma=es&video

Arno Stern’s early research and subsequent work

in the Paint and Clay workshops showed the exis-

tence of a code that appeared in the play of every-

body, irrespective of their social or cultural condi-

tions. We refer to this as Formulation.

What we now know thanks to the work of Arno

(in painting) and of Miguel (in clay) is that set of

drawings included in that natural development –

from the first movements that a child can make to

the essential figures where the representation di-

sappears – and the laws that shape its evolution.

Based on our (ours and other people’s) work on the body, movement and music, and in relation to play and learning, we can say that formulation, at least in the creator education con-ditions, appears in different ways in any activity carried out by any person.

The universality of Formulation has recently led to many hypotheses about its origin and its implications in the development of people.

Yet we do not consider the existence of Formulation to be the most important aspect. Nor that we still are unaware of its origin or the scope of its implications.

The important or substantial aspects, w h e n w e a r e d i s c u s s i n g l e a r n i n g a n d h u m a n r e l a t i o n s , are the processes that occur in those conditions.

- Unlimited processes. Never shorter, simpler or weaker than those given through teaching. Should be more personal, wealthier, extensive, pleasurable, appropriate to each moment and need.

- Feeling secure. The feeling that you can, that you are capable, that you are a unique, valuable being, with capacities and limitations, the same as other people, but always different.

- Real relationships where you can be who you are and coexist with others by respecting the other people’s needs and establishing limits.

- Learning that occurs regarding our own capacities, desires and needs. Learning to differentiate between when you are satisfying your own needs and when you are working for a goal beyond them.

- The conviction of know how

- Developing autonomy and the capacity for enjoyment.

- Excluding speculation, performances and submission to opinions

Creator Education establishes c o n d i t i o n s where play recovers its original function as a vehicle for learning. Play is here an opportunity to research and enjoy work, to discover and break limits, to find out who we are and establish relationships beyond competition and comparison.

Conditions of freedom where people feel secure are necessary for a process that includes the needs, desires and capacities of the individual, for learning that meets the inner needs and only takes what is necessary from outside, and for play that enables us to grow and learn in an unlimited way.

Unas condiciones donde cualquier persona puede desplegar sus capacidades al máximo. Las experiencias que se dan en estas condiciones devienen comportamientos en la vida cotidiana.

AN EDUCATOR WHO ATTENDS

Knowledge about the learning and expression processes, and trust in people’s capacities allows us to relate to them and help them in their processes without judging them.

Our work does not consist of guiding or leading, it is not stimulating or proposing, it is not judging their work in any way. We undertake to provide the conditions of freedom so play can last and the rules of the game set the necessary safety limits.

We establish service relationships that help people to focus on lear-ning and for that only to meet their needs.

A HETEROGENEOUS GROUP

There is room for everyone to express their originality in a heterogeneous group. Getting together to perform a task with people of different ages, with different concerns and training means that comparisons are not made and that the task is performed at its own rate and according to our desires, needs and capacities.

In this places, where normal is the difference, we can establish real, not competitive relationships, where everybody can be themselves without needing to meet external requirements.

LACK OF JUDGEMENT

When we attend in the workshop, we do not have expectations or intentions, we do not establish work rates or programmes, and we do not distrust the play and expression capacities of the people. We can then help them to work without issuing judgements and creating a feeling of security.

The real desires, needs and capacities of a group of different people, who play, research or work, can thus be known. You can work without your task being conditioned by sear-ching for the acceptance of other people, by the fear of not being correct or sufficient. The internal judgement and external judgement disappear and playing to express and learn becomes possible.

José Miguel Castro began to a p p l y t h e C l o s l i e u c o n d i t i o n s t o o t h e r a r e a s a n d l e a r n i n g thirty years ago. His research in the Clay Workshop proved the existence of Formulation when working with this material and opened up the way to other research and studies.

At the same time, Vega Martin and Delphine Joubert, added their contributions about music and the body.

For more than 13 years, Pedro Blanco and Eukene Fernandez have been researching the implications and possibilities of the Creator Education conditions in Play and Learning.

We are also aware more experiences in different parts of the world where Creator Education has been used in different learning areas and which have show the benefits of these con-ditions. And we know that many other experiences have been conducted, perhaps under other names but with the similar conditions of the Creator Education.

The conditions of the “Closlieu” and, much later, the Clay, Dance and Play workshops have proven to be areas where people can learn by developing their capacities to the utmost and experience real relationships without judgement or competition, along with meeting their in-depth need for expressions.

We know that any other learning is possible in these conditions: a learning path where, with our specific capacities, we make steady process by always meeting an internal logic to what we truly are.

Over the years that we have been researching Play as a vehicle for learning, we noted the existence of the formulation for the configuration of spaces. That is when our work split into two lines of research.

On the one hand, play as a vehicle for learning. The conditions that enable it and those that hinder it, the needs that are covered and how, the drift, the implications on growth, the acquisition of capacities and autonomy, etc.

On the other hand, the universality of play and its expressions. The link with the materials obtained by Arno Stern on his journeys and with the other observations made in other sphe-res, the search for the origins and the common aspects, and the universal validity of the conditions that are generated in our environments.

Photos of play areas and workshops.Solasgune archives 97/2008

Investigación y Recursos Educativos. Aldapa 7, Leioa. 94 4029780

www.solasgune.com // www.herrigune.org