The motivation behind the project is the assumption that creative imagination is a powerful tool in the process of learning and emotional-behavioral development, an assumption grounded in scholarship that empazises the importance of play in child development and learning. The project meets a growing interest in Europe on creativity and entrepreneurial learning from early age and is hence in accordance with EU´s education policy where one of its four priority areas is on enhancing creativity and entrepreneurial learning from an early age (EU´s Education and Training 2020). The aim of the project is to implement and illustrate in multiple ways how sandplay and storytelling can be of benefit in educational setting both as a tool to initiate creative thinking and expression for pupils of different ages and abilities in their regular schoolwork and as a therapeutic method for pupils with disabilities such as poor learning skills or attention and/or emotional problems. There are certain indications that by incorporating sandplay and storytelling as a part of the curriculum for all pupils could affect overall academic and social performance and thereby increase the equality of all children in the school system. The participants are sandplaytherapists, teachers, headmasters from three schools in Iceland, Ireland and Romania along with managers from two Centers in Iceland and Romania. The project involves three main activities that will take place during the project time. 1. A presentation and an implementation of sandplay and storytelling as a tool to initiate imaginative thinking and creative expression among pupils in their regular school work. Train-the-trainers workshop for teachers from the three participating countries on this use of sandplay/storytelling method among pupils of different ages and abilities in their school work with the aim of firing an implementation of the method for this purpose in the participating schools. An introductory handbook for teachers is made for use in the workshop and in the process of implementing this method in educational setting. 2. A testing of the method. A research project that involves a comparative study, implemented in the three European countries, on the effect of a regular use of sandplay and imaginative storytelling on learning and emotional-behavioral development of pupils with poor self-image, learning difficulties and/or emotional problems. Children suffering from bullying or trauma have priority in the project. The project is intended to cover 2 years and the process is repeated each year with new pupils. Both methods, that is sandplay and storytelling, inspired by imaginative thinking, are of crosscultural nature and hence convenient for a comparative study. The aim of the research project is to lay foundation, with quantitative and qualitative measurements, to the presumption that creative imagination is a powerful tool in the process of learning, emotional-behavioral development and wellbeing of children from different countries and cultures. The research study builds on and develops further a 4 years study that took place in a primary school in Iceland in the years 2005-09 and that aimed at investigating and evaluating a regular use of sandplay and storytelling with concern for any possible influence these methods might have on children‘s learning and emotional-behavioral development. The model project showed that all the participating children made progress in one or more area under observation. (See Dr. Unnsteinsdottir‘s article in The Arts in Psychotherapy 39 (2012)328-332). A positive impact on the prospective target group as concerns learning and emotional-behavioral development is as well to be expected in this project. 3. A dissemination plan including an introduction of the multiple value of the sandplay/storytelling method in educational setting in European schools, both as a tool to initiate creative thinking and expression for regular pupils and as a therapeutic method for children in need through different channels: in a train-the-trainers workshop/seminar and an introductory handbook for teachers on the application of the sandplay/storytelling method used as a tool to initiate creative thinking and expression in regular schoolwork; in an article on the project design and results in a professional journal and finally the multiple use of the method presented in a multiplier event: conference/seminar for professionals working in the sectors of psychology and education at the end of the project time. With this project a solid argument is made for including imaginative therapeutic play and take actively into account the rich inner lives of children and their emotional needs in curriculum design to help them deal with their self image, learning and development. The project is destined to motivate school authorities and teachers alike nationwide.
The motivation behind the project is the assumption that creative imagination is a powerful tool in the process of learning and emotional-behavioral development, an assumption grounded in scholarship that empazises the importance of play in child development and learning. The project meets a growing interest in Europe on creativity and entrepreneurial learning from early age and is hence in accordance with EU´s education policy where one of its four priority areas is on enhancing creativity and entrepreneurial learning from an early age (EU´s Education and Training 2020). The aim of the project is to implement and illustrate in multiple ways how sandplay and storytelling can be of benefit in educational setting both as a tool to initiate creative thinking and expression for pupils of different ages and abilities in their regular schoolwork and as a therapeutic method for pupils with disabilities such as poor learning skills or attention and/or emotional problems. There are certain indications that by incorporating sandplay and storytelling as a part of the curriculum for all pupils could affect overall academic and social performance and thereby increase the equality of all children in the school system. The participants are sandplaytherapists, teachers,special need teachers, psychologists and headmasters from three schools in Iceland, Ireland and Romania along with managers from two Centers in Iceland and Romania. Undertaken main activities and results: 1. An implementation of sandplay and storytelling as a tool to initiate imaginative thinking and creative expression among special needs and mainstream pupils in their regular school work. Results of the use of sandplay and storytelling in special needs and main stream education were very successful according to teachers that applied this method in all three countries. Sandtray play sessions were beneficial to pupils with social and emotional difficulties as well as learning difficulties and all teachers intend to continue using this method. Sandplay and storytelling helps pupils to escape into an interior world for a period, become relatively stress-free and release their innate creativity. All of this has a positive influence on their emotional stability and aids progress in literacy when they tell/draw/write about their creation. Another benefit arising from the session is that such children return to the classroom much calmer and refreshed. They are then much more likely to engage with the work of the classroom for the remainder of the school day. Sandplay and imaginative storytelling as a therapeutic method for students who have disabilities such as poor learning skills or attention and/or emotional problems was administrated in each participating country. 4 pupils came to 12 sessions each year. Implementation in all 3 countries was run by 3 sandplay therapists and as a part of a comparative research project. 2. A testing of sandplay and storytelling as a therapeutic method. A research project that involves a comparative study, implemented in the three European countries, on the effect of a regular use of sandplay and imaginative storytelling on learning and emotional-behavioral development of pupils with poor self-image, learning difficulties and/or emotional problems. The project took to 8 pupils from each country. The research study builds on and develops further a 4 years study in the years 2005-09 in Artunsskoli. Before and after the participation in the project, with 13 months interval, a battery of standardized tests and scales, among others the intelligent scale WISC, was administered in collaboration with a psychologist. Qualitative results were attained by case consultation with dr. B. Turner that was arranged with regular Skype meetings.The case analyses clearly show that the children addressed their inner conflicts or deficits and that they were able to progress through many of their intrapsychic challenges toward a more integrated in-tact mental functioning. According to B. Turner it is difficult to deciper the relationships between the apparent successes or struggles in the children´s Sandtray Plan and story work and their WISC scores. Some children do successful work in sand and story and their scores that both increase and decrease, as well. Successful work in the sand is a series of trays that shows an engagement with a conflict and its improvement or resolution, and or the child´s ability to construct progressively more organized with higher degrees of relationship between the figures, the earth and water. The use of water indicates an ability and willingness to probe more deeply into oneself. Story development is seen in progressively more complex and imaginative stories, showing explanations for why things are how the are, dialect, description, and so on.