Nowadays there is no doubt that social and emotional skills (SES) are a key
element in human development. Plenty of research and official reports show that
if children are not attaining minimal SES at around six years of age, they are
likely to be at risk in the next stages of their development. Well-developed
SES in children contribute to academic success, improve learning conditions,
are a powerful tool for empowering children for a better future, for a happier
and more productive life, but also they are an irreplaceable tool for
prevention of social exclusion, aggression and bullying, school dropout,
different types of risk behaviours, psychopathology, unemployment,
etc. Deficits in SES lead to poor academic results, may lead to problems with
social adaptation or serious psychopathology, substance abuse problems,
challenges finding employment or run-ins with the law, etc. Supporting SES
development in the early years increases children's chances of success in
school, work, and life. It will have an impact on the children themselves, but
also a great indirect impact on their families, teachers, and society as a
whole. The EU-SELF project aims to be an innovative approach of linking the
knowledge and expertise in the field of SES and the educational practices.
Kindergarten 37 “Valshebstvo" is a municipal kindergarten founded in 1977 for the upbringing of children from a nursery age up until enrollment in primary school. It is located on the territory of Vitosha District, Sofia Municipality. It works five days a week from 7 am until 7 pm. There are 62 employees including a Director, a Deputy Director, 18 teachers, a pedagogue, а music teacher, a psychologist, a speech therapist, a resource teacher, 29 non-teaching staff, and 8 nurses. Altogether 319 children are educated and trained at Kindergarten 37. There are 11 groups, 9 of which are with children between 3 and 6 years of age. In these groups, children are taken care of by 2 pedagogues split into two shifts, and non-pedagogical staff represented by an assistant tutor. Our goals are to lay the foundations for the personal development of Europe's future citizens, helping them preserve their national, cultural and family identities. A core value in our pedagogical work is to preserve the uniqueness of childhood. In order to prepare children for school, we take into consideration the individual dynamics of the child’s development, while we search for unity and harmony in their physical, spiritual, moral, social and intellectual development. The compulsory pre-school preparation, which takes place two years before school enrollment, has a strong educational effect that has long-lasting benefits in regard to socialization and general achievements of each child throughout the period of study. An intensive process of integrated training for children with special educational needs has also been implemented.
