Yolanda van Hoorn has a background as a Cesar exercise therapist. “In my practice, I increasingly saw younger and younger children with pain complaints and posture problems. Out of the need to do something about this, the Zit met Pit teaching package was developed for children in the upper years of primary school, particularly years five and six. The teaching package teaches children about healthy behaviour when using screens. Teachers then indicated that they would like to incorporate more movement into the classroom, but did not know how to do so. This led to the development of the Active Learning workshop for teachers. In this workshop, we teach them how to turn core subjects into movement-based activities, into active learning activities.” Van Hoorn noticed that teachers did then get started, but that there was no follow-up. “To facilitate teachers in this, we launched the Wieblie platform, which is full of ready-to-use lessons on active learning, organised by lesson block and core subject.” Van Hoorn points out that scientific research is now also available demonstrating the positive effects of active learning on children’s cognition and concentration.
Through Zit met Pit, Van Hoorn has been working with Presikhaaf Schoolmeubelen for years. “We found each other through a shared vision: we want to get children moving and ensure that when they sit, they have good posture, while they want children to sit properly on their school furniture, preferably with as much movement around it as possible. In that sense, we complement and reinforce each other.”
Presikhaaf Schoolmeubelen has been working with JOGG for a year, and the first fundraising campaign was primarily intended to celebrate the start of that partnership. For the second edition, Presikhaaf Schoolmeubelen approached Wieblie to join in as well.
She has a clear message: “Our slogan is: more movement starts with less sitting. It can be done in an accessible way, and it is not something that comes ‘on top of’ everything else, but ‘instead of’ something else. Because we understand that teachers already have more than enough to do. That is why we want to help them by offering ready-to-use lessons on a silver platter. You do not always have to go outside for active learning; it can work perfectly well indoors too. Whether indoors or outdoors, our motivation is always the same: we make learning fun for children!” According to Van Hoorn, the pupils in years five and six do not need to be encouraged to move: “I often explain that behaviour is strongly influenced by environmental factors. If, for example, you hung rings in the hallway, children would naturally hang from them. They would not need to be told to do so! Movement is innate in children. It is the adults who then sit them down on little chairs.”
Would you like to participate in the fundraising campaign? Then go to this link.