The "Active Senior Competencies - Storytelling 55+" project is coming to an end. The result of cooperation between an international team of experts from the Lublin Regional Tourist Organisation from Poland, Unione degli Assessorati from Italy, and Ljudska Univerza Rogaska Slatina from Slovenia, are ready-to-use educational tools that provide valuable support for educators working with the elderly.
These are innovative and tailored teaching materials for seniors. They contain practical tips, creative exercises and inspiring examples that will allow educators to effectively engage seniors in learning processes.
A key stage of the project was the testing of the results. This was very important as it allowed the effectiveness and usability of the tools to be verified in practical applications.
In each of the three countries involved in the project, specially planned workshops were held for groups of senior citizens, during which the developed lesson scenarios were applied and the resulting storytelling cards were used. The scenarios were designed to take into account the specific needs and expectations of seniors from different cultures and social backgrounds. The storytelling cards proved to be an effective tool to stimulate the imagination and facilitate storytelling.
The results of the workshop were extremely inspiring. The seniors showed enthusiasm in telling their stories and actively listened to the stories of other participants. The proces of creating and sharing stories made seniors realise how much they have to share and how valuable their experience is.
Testing the same tools during activities with older people in different countries led to following conclusions:
- storytelling cards, have proven to be a flexible and adaptable tool that can be used effectively in different countries and cultures,
- despite using the same tools, educators in each country used different approaches to realise the full potential of storytelling. This diversity allowed creativity and innovation to flourish during the workshops,
- an interesting finding is the use of different forms of expression during the workshops in each country: making collages in Poland, using elements of dance in Slovenia, or stimulating dialogue in Italy. The use of such forms enriched the seniors' experiences and adapted the storytelling processes to local traditions and preferences.
The conducted workshops for seniors demonstrated the flexibility of the implemented educational tools and the possibility to apply a variety of approaches in their use. A very important aspect was the value of social interaction and active participation of seniors, which confirmed that education based on cultural storytelling is not only effective but also inspiring and rewarding.
