Design for Change – Embracing the “I CAN” challenge by Romanian teachers

Romanian teachers are preparing to embrace the “I CAN” challenge with the Design for Change (DfC) methodology.

The Romanian Angel Appeal Foundation, supported by the Romanian American Foundation, has joined the international Design for Change movement, making Romania one of the 70 countries where this program is successfully implemented.

By the end of the year, we aim to create a learning and practice community where teachers receive support in identifying the most suitable strategies for applying the DfC methodology in their classrooms.

Twenty-four teachers have accepted the challenge to cultivate the “I CAN” mindset among students from February 9 to 11, when they participated in training on a methodology that combines design thinking principles with action-based projects.

Together with primary and middle school teachers, we aim to help the children we work with develop empathy, confidence, collaboration, and critical thinking.

We strongly believe that every child and young person can reach their full potential with minimal guidance from the adults around them.

After this training course, teachers can support their students as facilitators in a complex process of identifying community problems, prioritizing them, generating ideas and solutions, and then implementing and sharing the results.

“Being an active, aware, and responsible citizen, living in a democratic world, means participating, being active, and accepting change. Not waiting for things to be handed to you. That’s a mindset change. This project precisely targets that direction.

This initiative and process of implementing change truly delighted me. It’s about having a change mindset. To accept, tolerate, implement, generate, and be the change yourself, you need to have a mindset for it.

This course addresses that area. That’s what we need in schools. To instill a change mindset in children,” says Nadia, one of the training participants.

During the training, teachers explored with trainer Alina Mustață how to encourage students to become agents of change through:

• Feel – Students identify and understand their community’s problems based on empathy.
• Imagine – Students explore and develop creative solutions for the identified problems.
• Do – Students implement the developed solutions, planning and executing concrete projects.
• Share – Students share their experiences and results with the community, encouraging and inspiring others to get involved.

“In a world full of challenges, an adult who firmly believes in each child’s potential can make a huge difference in their lives. This opens a universe of possibilities where children feel encouraged to explore their passions and develop their talents. It can be a wonderful journey where they learn that there are no limits and that effort and perseverance can lead to success,” says Oana Pășălan, the project coordinator.

Due to its simplicity, the methodology is a flexible tool that can be easily adapted in the classroom. The selection process for the 24 participants was challenging due to the impressive number of applications, demonstrating teachers’ interest and desire to approach education with a proactive and innovative vision.

In the coming period, the teachers who attended the course will apply the methodology in their classes, testing its success in both formal structures and non-formal, extracurricular activities, or optional courses, documenting the process on the DfC ROMANIAN ANGEL APPEAL platform.

For more information about the project, please feel free to contact us. Project Coordinator: Oana Pășălan, oana.pasalan@raa.ro.