Tatiana Gurovich – Professor at the Faculty of Education of the Pontifical Catholic University of Santiago de Chile, Chile, International Master in Psychomotor Science from the Higher Institute for Psychomotor Re-education in Paris, France, Professor Honoris Causa from the International Organization for Psychomotor Science and Relaxation, France, with specializations in “Special Education”, “Pedagogical Psychomotorics”, “Psychopedagogy” was a guest of BAPMT and gave the second lecture in the series “The Child’s Body in Kindergarten” – “What is the difference between typical and psychomotor pedagogy? How are they similar and how are they different?”.
Thank you very much for the invitation to this moment of psychomotor conversation. My name is Tatiana Gurovich Pinto, I am from Santiago de Chile, I am an educator and psychomotrician, delegate of the International Organization of Psychomotricity and
Relaxation. I received this invitation after an exchange with colleagues from Bulgaria at the Congress
of Psychomotricity in Verona, Italy.
Originally I am a physical education teacher, then I studied psychopedagogy, and then I studied psychomotricity. The idea of today is to tell you, from this side of the world, the path I followed to give continuity from pedagogy to psychomotricity. When I studied physical education, my training was very focused on sports. The intention was to train professionals with a degree in pedagogy, but focused purely on the field of sports. And once I finished my studies, it happened that I was very concerned about the link between learning and movement. And I felt at that time that Physical Education did not provide an answer to that question. That is how I came to psychopedagogy, and I did a postgraduate training in psychopedagogy. In this way, I responded to the link between learning and movement. But, the opposite happened, it was very much linked to the cognitive field. And the body was left in immobility. I continued my search. And that is how I came to Psychomotricity. In this way I linked the cognitive, socio-affective and motor aspects of the human being, from a broad, holistic and integral point of view.
The first question I was asked was: What is the difference between regular pedagogy and psychomotor pedagogy? And how are they similar and how do they differ?
This is how the need arises for me to discuss and raise the question related to the existence of schools….; what is the role of education; is education finally dynamic or adaptive? Traditionally, education has always been seen as a transmission of information between teacher and student. And in a certain way, the focus was placed on studying learning contexts, curricular content, or didactics. This is how we can say that the teachers function would be to transmit contents, to have great pedagogical competences. To be able to control the teaching and learning process. To be able to assume administrative tasks. And at the same time. To maintain discipline in a climate of trust and affection, to maintain a good atmosphere in the classroom. Participate in meetings, establish relationships with parents of students. Ensuring motivation and personal meaning in learning, among other things. The teaching methodology consisted of repetition, memory and solving problems that were known.
Today, we have a great challenge that has to do with globalization, with technological changes. In a changing world in this 21st century, where problems and problem solving are often unknown. Therefore, the question is, how is it taught, who teaches it, how is it educated for the future, what does it imply, what could these technological challenges be of young people who need know-how AND who change the ways of communicating, for example, and therefore also change the ways of playing.
Where there are economic challenges, since having a future is no guarantee of staying in the job as it was before. Where there is a challenge in personal education. In the past, one would study and stay in that same job or with that same knowledge, but today we require lifelong learning and tools that are constantly changing. So what would be the stated skills for the 21st century? There are two areas that are fundamental: creativity and critical thinking. And somehow both areas are very strongly linked to psychomotor skills.
If we refer to these 21st century skills in a synthetic way, they are: critical thinking; constantly asking ourselves about the ability to be creative (and here the question arises, if we are or are born creative) Working in teams, as collaboration. In heterogeneous, diverse groups where greater learning possibilities are generated. On the other hand, there is communication as a fundamental and necessary skill in the 21st century. And finally, a skill that is fundamental, such as learning. And learning. And to think about thinking and learning and always learning…
So, linking it with the question that my colleagues asked me. For example: How do I teach to be creative, what would be my professional role, how do I teach to think, how do I know that the other learned, how do I imagine this student of the future, what would be
the methodologies to teach these skills, and in my opinion, the most important one, which summons us today. And, in my opinion, the most important question that summons us today: Where and how is the body and its productions relegated in education? And in this way we make the that the body is the vehicle of communication of expression of our affective history, of our experiences and of our relationships.
In this way, we connect with the fundamental idea of the discipline of psychomotricity. Understanding that it is dedicated to the study of body movement. Not only as a means of expression. But it focuses on the influence that movement has on the construction of the
personality and how this will condition the emotional, affective and cognitive world of the
person. I quote Boscaini in relation to this concept that psychomotricity is a meta-discipline, whichhas great versatility and allows to reconcile the human being in this look from the complexity, with its new notion of care. It is based on a global vision, on cognitive, emotional, symbolic and sensorimotor interactions. On the capacity to be and to express oneself in a psychosocial context.
I base myself here on the definition of the European Psychomotor Forum, which I imagine you know and recognize. What is fundamental to psychomotor skills? Especially in the educational field, it is the psychomotor gaze. This possibility of changing my ways of observing the other,
emphasizing the unity and globality of development. Giving importance to the movement as a manifestation and as an instrument of the psychic structure of the person. And emphasizing movement and gesture in communication. In this way, I can observe and determine the singularity, the individuality, understanding the history of the functional organization of each subject within a context. For example, educational. This allows me not to homogenize. I believe that this is the great difference between psychomotricity in education vs. pedagogy alone.
From there it is understood that the child will use his or her motor skills, not only to move, or to move or to pick up objects, but also to discover, to experiment, to know, to communicate. To learn. That is to say, to do and to think.
The motricity implies an action with sense, action with meaning. Where thinking, feeling, knowing, wanting and doing occur in the same space and Therefore, psychomotricity does not see the body as something only biological, but will constantly encompass it from a psycho-affective, relational and environmental perspective. Taking elements of children's play to accompany the process of their
development. In this way, the child is placed in a situation of emotionally experiencing the different psychomotor dimensions, that is, the relationship established with space, time, the world of objects, with others, and with his or her own body.The relationship it establishes with objects and its evolution in relation to the maturation of thought. The exchanges with others in relation to communication.
Movement, dexterity, clumsiness, coordination. n education we must be constantly observing how the child uses his body, how he orients
it, how he discovers his motor efficiency and posture. Understanding how he relates to the world of objects, how he relates to the world of
others, is fundamental to understanding his motor expressiveness. In this way it is possible to determine their maturational and evolutionary development. What is motor expressiveness?…. It is the original way each one of us has of being and being in the world. As a consequence of our psychic functioning.
Therefore, in the view of educational psychomotor skills we are always looking at motor expressivity from these 3 structures:
The cognitive dimension, which is the chils ability to grasp the world around him/her.
From cognitive parameters (concepts of shape, color, size, space, time).
From neuromotor aspects (such as information on the possibilities of movement that our body has with respect to itself, objects and space).
From affective aspects, such as emotional states in which the child is in relationship.
Another point that is fundamental from the point of view of educational psychomotricity is that this possibility of observing the other is always accompanied by self-observation. Since we adults not only accompany the game, but we also get involved in this playful
space. Therefore, there is a look at what happens to us as people.
The second question is related to what is the evolution of kindergarten pedagogy? From institutionalized to less institutionalized and how is pedagogy being humanized? What is the history of change in Chile?
The pedagogical experience will always be centered on teacher-student interaction. Therefore, we must consider. The habitus, the context of the school and the curriculum and the interdisciplinary as fundamental in this interaction. The habitus somehow has to do precisely with the disposition or ways of thinking and doing, of redirecting situations lived without questioning, for example, in the teaching
practice, because it is structural in the context. The curriculum is a social construction and cultural selection, what should be taught in school, influenced by political, social and economic ideologies based on the idea of identity and the formal subject. This means that what happens in school is a reflection of society.
On the one hand, we talk about curriculum. But we also have to think that in order to reach learning there is a long way and in this sense we are going to look at the fact that although a specific curriculum is designed, there are curricular bases that have plans and programs, which have an integrated implementation. There is a teaching process that has to do with didactics, where the evaluation and planning processes are implicit, which should lead us, by the way, to the possibility of learning. That is the path that pedagogically one pursues to be able to learn, we who work from psychomotricity, understand that this is not always the path that conditions us to know if we are on the path to learning.
That is why the questions that arise have to do with how I interpret the curriculum, and on what basis do I make pedagogical decisions for implementation? As Shulman states, on the one hand, there is subject knowledge, pedagogical knowledge of the content, curricular knowledge, and on the other hand, there are the teachers' beliefs, classroom management and organization. And personal practical experience and teaching situations. All that together is what we have to deal with in the teaching and learning processes. On the other hand, there is content specific to the area, core processes. There are also educational theories where much emphasis is placed on reflective practices and there is knowledge of public policies where there are classroom conditions and where technical resources are allocated to enable this learning to be embodied. From this point of view, psychomotor skills have a place in education.
In this sense, I am going to focus on learning mediated by corporeality and corporeity, which is what appears in the curricular bases and which is linked, in a certain way, to psychomotor skills.
Understanding that, for this to happen, there must always be interactions. There must be a link, with the dimension of time and space, there must be expression of emotions. There must be an awareness and symbolization, and on the other hand, it must always be linked to the relational and social space. I am going to focus on what the curricular bases of physical education and health propose.
And their objective is:
– Improve students motor skills, favoring experiences in which they can express feelings, emotions, moods, among others, through various temporary practices
– Promote the acquisition of skills, knowledge and attitudes that allow children and young people to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle autonomously, based on learning experiences. It is also expected that students develop personal and social responsibility through participation and implementation of activities in their community.
Specifically, we can see that it is closely linked to the concept of well-being and active and healthy life, as well as artistic, sports and recreational activities. The curricular bases emphasize the importance of movement for acquiring self- awareness, as well as for developing motor skills and coordination. As it says here, these skills are associated with a series of benefits that transcend the purely physical plane. In physical education and health we can observe four fundamental areas. The area of attitudes where critical thinking, collaboration, personal and social responsibility are addressed. The formative purpose area, which seeks to provide opportunities to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle, improving their quality of life and that of others through the practice of physical activities.
The Axes area; where motor skills, active and healthy life, safety, fair play and leadership, personal and social responsibility in sports are linked. And the skills area, where motor skills, active and healthy living, active and healthy communities are fundamental. If we analyze, we can realize that there is no mention of play as an expression of the human being, or the cognitive, emotional, affective, symbolic, and integrated expression
of psychomotor interaction. We know that the body is not a machine set in motion by a psychism that inhabits the
brain.
On the other hand, we have the Curricular Bases of Kindergarten Education, initial education, which in some way lay the foundations for early childhood development and allow for a better link with psychomotor skills. They are composed of learning areas. And the learning core of corporeality and movement is transversal. That is to say, all learning must be corporalized.
The general purpose of the core is to
– Through Corporality and Movements, it is expected to empower children with skills, attitudes and knowledge that allow them to recognize and appreciate their bodily attributes, discover their motor possibilities, acquire a progressive autonomy to move and move, and contribute to expand their thought processes, satisfy their exploration interests, strengthen their identity. Solve practical problems and express their creativity in this way. They will expand their resources to act in the environment, developing a sense of autonomy, well-being, confidence and security. In a way, what this core allows us to do is to dare to cross disciplinary boundaries, since being transversal to other learning, we want to integrate them with other areas and other disciplines.
What does this way of looking at early education highlight? For example, in addition to having to integrate other disciplines, we need strategies to be able to plan and, as in psychomotor skills, we have to use a route: we activate knowledge to connect, we explain, to be able to understand. We challenge in order to apply. We give feedback to be able to reflect and we evaluate to be able to make learning visible. Just like what happens in the
Psychomotricity room when we put the material, we listen to the other, we make a game proposal, we listen to the proposal and we agree to expand and enrich the playful proposal.
And we are observing what the needs are in order to be able to make the necessary scaffolding. And accompany. How do we evidence learning in psychomotor and play experiences, then from this. Initial education proposal?
And here is an example, through the use of a grading system for classroom evaluation called class. Which is an observation tool that focuses on the effectiveness of interactions between. Teachers and children in the classroom because it is the interactions that foster
childrens social and cognitive development. Those that thrive when teachers create an environment that is formative, well-managed, and where opportunities are provided. Frequent and engaging opportunities to learn. So, for example, we visualize through interactions whether these experiences, from psychomotor and play, make sense. As we said before, what does class observe? It observes the quality of interactions, for example, the relational climate. Here we can see the interpersonal relationships, that is, if there is a reciprocal interaction or the expression of emotions. Or if there is a respect for the child state, if there is a soft approach or not, if there is a verbal or physical recognition of the other, if there is an adjustment, if there is a sensibility of the educator towards the child, if there is a comfort of the child towards the adult, if he/she approaches, if he/she participates. If he/she considers it, if he/she facilitates the activity, if he/she actively participates. If he/she allows movement, if he/she allows conversation, etc.
To promote an environment. It is important that the interactions between the educator, teacher and children be positive and supportive of this educational process. These interactions, called effective strategies. They consist of behaviors that are intentional that teachers perform in order to help children in their construction of knowledge. What happens in the Psychomotricity room? Children learn about themselves through imitation. Knowing and controlling their own body, identifying and using their possibilities and limitations. Testing and testing their verbal and non-verbal expression and communication skills. Exploring the body as a source of sensations and feelings. We are the adults who contain, support, accompany and model. In this safe environment.
In Chile we are still on the way to achieve the profession. There are some postgraduate training initiatives. There are some research initiatives in education. But we also have a lot of expertise from other disciplines. Like occupational therapy or kinesiology. That in some way, have an advanced way in demonstrating the effectiveness and efficiency of therapeutic spaces.
Lets keep walking.
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