Papagoya Education

Bringing Play focused education into India and celebrating the unique potential of each child.

Papagoya is a community focused, play-centric learning space that is inspired by the Norwegian & the Pedagogy of Play Frameworks . We are an innovative school model showcasing how education can be imparted keeping child play & wellbeing at the centre. Papagoya aims to move the needle in India from rote learning & singular notions of success to a model that allows every child to learn differently.

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Overview

Information on this page is provided by the innovator and has not been evaluated by HundrED.

Web presence

2016

Established

600

Children

1

Countries

Target group

Students basic

Updated

October 2024

At Papagoya we are strong proponents of “each child in their own time”. We believe children are all born to learn & will learn at their own pace. We believe that when a child's social and emotional needs are met, they feel heard and validated. This gives them ownership and validation over their learning journey and they invest more deeply in their own learning when they feel joy.

About the innovation

Why did you create this innovation?

Education in India was becoming overly competitive and the metrics to measure success were created to support one specific kind of learner, ignoring the many kinds of learners children are. Play was non existent with focus on the child & their wellbeing, ignored to a the point of children feeling a huge sense of failure and stress far too young. We exist to bring joy back into learning.

What does your innovation look like in practice?

At the Kindergarten a child’s day is a balance of routine & play with 70% of play being outdoors. At the Micro School the day holistic in nature, with 50% of the day spent on core learning skills, 30% spent exploring other skills like music, art, sports & 20% spent on life skills & wellbeing.

The core Papagoya value is to keep the child at the centre of all we do. All decision making starts with the question “is this good for the child?”

Children have agency, voice and autonomy and participate in creating school rules, food menu’s & feed into the curriculum of what they would like to learn.

The adults & parents who lead the explorations are all experts in these fields from within our local community & come to work with the children on a weekly basis. Parent participation showcases that learning and expertise is a community effort.

How has it been spreading?

The Kindergarten & Micro-school model is continuously developed in an open source approach allowing practitioners to experience->practice->implement into their contexts
*We partner with schools, grassroots organisations, and educational programs, offering opportunities to observe our methods and environments, while also training their teams in playful learning approaches.
* Publicly available & versatile resources on playful learning experiences, for educators to seamlessly integrate into diverse educational settings.
* Actively support past educators & parents inspired by our model to start similar spaces of playful learning.
*Continued recognition from the Norwegian Government, Playful Schools Network, Ekstep & UN Women have allowed us to spread the work becoming synonymous with play

If I want to try it, what should I do?

Reach out to us, we believe the more we collaborate on education, the more we can all work towards paving a new path. We invite you over to spend sometime with us to experience life at Papagoya. As you decide on how you would like to create a community space for learning, we will support and share our approach and assist you in getting your space started. Write to us on hello@papagoya.com

Media

The Papagoya Micro-School

The Papagoya Virtual Edit: Dealing with the Pandemic as a family and its effects on children | The Papagoya Virtual Edit: Dealing with the Pandemic as a family and its effects on children | By PapagoyaFacebook

A Conversation about the Hidden Faces of Grief

Implementation steps

Organise Student Cafes

This is a space for children to express concerns, discuss changes they would like or rules they want to change (e.g. menu changes, exploration requests, resource requests). This also acts as a space where educators can talk to children about concerns like bathrooms not being kept clean or children getting hurt more frequently during play. A space to brainstorm and come up with ways we can all better our school and the environment for everyone, and where everyone feels heard.

Create a Feelings Room:

This is a quiet sensorially pleasing space, with books on feelings, tools to draw & colour, sound machines, bean bags, lava lamps, and soft carpets. This becomes a space within the school environment where children know they can go to if they want alone time. It also becomes a non verbal call for help as an educator sees a child there they know to intervene. It is also a space for quiet 1:1 conversations or to help resolve conflict without being in front of everyone.

Feelings Circle:

This is a once a week space that is created in smaller cohorts, or as a whole school where children are encouraged to speak about their emotions, things they want to share or behaviours that are being exhibited by others that they don't enjoy. This is not a space of naming or blaming, but a space to navigate conflict & emotions as a group, with children all sharing ideas on how a child could navigate a struggle or validate a feeling. During the pandemic many conversations focused on fears.

Journaling

Children are encouraged to journal on a weekly basis. There is time carved out in the week and they are encouraged to keep a personal journal for themselves. The idea behind this is is that our emotional needs can be met in many ways - by talking to our friends, by expressing themselves in our feelings circle, or at the feelings room, however sometimes its about articulating them for ourselves and also finding an inner way of navigating our challenges or feelings by using the written medium.

Wellbeing Coach

A specific educator holds the role of wellbeing coach, and while the environment is created in a way that a child goes to any adult they connect with, we found that one person who also has the time and focus as part of their role can then be available for children through the day. This person is also critical in creating a bridge between parents and the school community by supporting parents, but also helping them understand their child's needs within school and the support their child needs.

Healthy Amounts of Outdoor Time

A key aspect to our children's happiness has been plenty of outdoor time and play time. Social & emotional wellness and ability to sit in class, absorb content and complex subjects has become easier when children are physically challenged in the outdoors & their energy needs are met. When children come into school they don't go straight into routine - we have a flexible drop off and start in the morning with free play time at both ends. This allows children to have control over their day.

Choice Time:

A big aspect to wellbeing is the ability to have some control over your day. Schools often become largely dictated with children having little to no autonomy in their learning journey or their day. Often the vocabulary we use makes a huge difference to the way children view their learning spaces. Choice times are pockets in the day where children have full autonomy over what they would like to do during that time, which allows for a sense of self and autonomy that contribute to wellbeing.