Play and Life Skills (PALS): Promotion of pedagogical-didactical competences of lecturers in the field of life skills and play for teacher education in Serbia and North Macedonia
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Content of this page
Profile
- Project leadership
- Doris Kuhn (PHZH), Natalie Geiger (PHZH)
- Project team
- Sabrina Marruncheddu Krause (PHZH), Wiltrud Weidinger Meister (PHZH), Adina Baiatu (PHZH)
- Organisational unit
- W-IB (Internationale Bildungsentwicklung)
- Project phase
- Completed (1.1.2022 – 31.12.2025)
- Project type
- Service project
- Funding
- Community Fund of the Canton of Zurich
- Participating institutions
- Pre-School Teacher Training College, Serbia; Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, Institute for Pedagogy, North Macedonia
Description
The project Play and Life Skills (PALS) aims to raise awareness among teachers in Serbia and North Macedonia of the importance of learning through play. Specifically, the project seeks to increase the amount of free play in early years education. Children aged 4 to 8 develop both subject-specific and cross-curricular skills through play. The latter include creative thinking, social skills, and emotional regulation.
As part of the PALS project, teachers in Serbia and North Macedonia receive training that covers theoretical knowledge and its classroom application. They also learn how to arrange classrooms and kindergartens to provide enough space for children to play and learn simultaneously.
Project outcomes
An image gallery with 15 images follows.
At the start of the project, education experts from Serbia and North Macedonia collaborated with the Zurich University of Teacher Education to assess needs, leading to the formulation of various objectives. The aim was, on the one hand, to strengthen initial and continuing teacher training to emphasise the importance of play as an opportunity for learning and developing life skills. Additionally, the objective was to enhance the skills of university lecturers by jointly developing materials and providing further training on play and learning. The project also sought to strengthen the link between teacher training and school practice in the area of play and learning for children aged 4 to 8.
Implementation into degree programmes and a handbook in four languages
Through a series of workshops and meetings, the partners involved developed eight modules for a professional development programme on the topic of “A development-oriented approach to play and learning” for teacher students. The programme was piloted with 450 students in North Macedonia and Serbia, after which it was incorporated into standard Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes. Additionally, a training course for 45 kindergarten teachers was held in Novi Sad. A handbook and twelve videos were produced and officially published by the Serbian Ministry of Education and the University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje. The handbook is available free of charge as a teaching resource in English, Serbian, Macedonian and Albanian on the IPE-Textbooks platform.
Accompanying study demonstrates the programme’s effectiveness and identifies further needs
During the project period, an accompanying study involving teachers, students, lecturers and parents was carried out. The results reveal positive developments in many areas, showing changes in the skills, knowledge and attitudes of the participating students and teachers. These findings suggest that a programme such as PALS can promote a combination of play and life skills to support learning and development. Differences between the two countries were evident, as were areas in which further development is needed (e.g. critical thinking, problem solving and coping with stress).
Publications
Weidinger, Wiltrud, Doris Kuhn, Corinna Borer, Svetlana Lazic, and Alma Tasevska (2025)
PALS – Play and Life Skills. Play as an Opportunity for Developing Life Skills
In: Berti, Francesca und Seitz, Simone (Eds.), The Primary School as a Playful Space. Bozen: Bozen-Bolzano University Press, pp. 105–121.