Sometimes I inflate like a balloon fish when they don’t let me play or they take away what is mine, it makes me angry and those scales that the fish has start to inflate, but with breathing little by little that balloon deflates and I feel better… sometimes this takes a long time and other times it is faster.” The story is told by a transition student from Innova Schools, a school that is part of a Latin American educational organization that bears the same name. He was born in Peru and already has offices in Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico.
At his young age, this child understands the institution’s focus: guaranteeing comprehensive training that encompasses the cognitive and emotional development of its students through, for example, breathing techniques that help them manage their emotions. “Socio-emotional development is important because we need adults who recognize themselves as good human beings to build a much more supportive, tolerant and empathetic society.a,” said Natalia Alexandra Pava, Learning Coordinator of the Socio-Emotional Program of Innova Schools in Colombia.
To achieve this goal, The institution created a strategy that includes a specific subject that works on emotional intelligence, social skills, and life skills and character strengths in students of all academic levels. In addition, Innova Schools Colombia promotes the understanding of the context and particularities of its students in its curriculum.
For the board, educating children who live in Bogotá is not the same as educating those who live in Tunja, Cota or Zipaquirá, towns where the organization also has a presence. Contextualizing the offer responds to the cultural attributes of each of the regions as a great responsibility that is assumed by all management teams to generate safe school spaces.
For Pava, the results of this model are more than positive. “The teachers and administrators are committed to the program, and the success of the program is evident in the good perception of the families, as well as in the results of standardized tests such as Map Growth (used in the United States), which have shown good results. in relation to the school climate,” he concluded. Yonnova Schools Colombia will continue to focus on personal well-being as a transformative axis for a better society.
