Program Highlights

A unique and innovative flagship program - which provides educators with the knowledge, creative tools, and practical understanding to uplift preschool children. Developing resilience and resources for dealing with uncertainty and crisis, social skills, creativity, and flexibility - all necessary skills for surviving and thriving in a changing world.
The program imparts skills for leading personal and group development processes and promotes the ability for differential learning through play, drama, movement, rhythm, and creation.
The innovative program develops the future generation of early childhood educators in Israel. It combines educational and therapeutic concepts, theory with practice, and develops multidimensional and holistic budding educators capable of leading meaningful experiences in individual and group settings.

Overview

Head of the program – Dr. Marie-Lyne Smadja

A unique, innovative flagship program that creates the future generation of early childhood educators.

The program imparts practical and creative knowledge and tools for the advancement of children (0-8): to develop resilience and resources for dealing with uncertainty and crisis, alongside the development of social and emotional skills, creativity, and flexibility – necessary skills to function and survive in a changing world. In addition, it promotes abilities for differential learning through creative means such as play, drama, movement, rhythm, and creation.

This program is intended for professionals working in the early childhood education system in Israel or for those who wish to integrate into the field: in kindergartens, daycare centers, and nurseries, in intervention programs for children at risk, and informal education frameworks and programs.

Among the subjects of study:

  • Resilience, Trauma, and Coping Resources
  • Play and Art Therapy – for Personal Expression, Development of Social Communication Skills and Coping Resources
  • Art Group Facilitation 
  • Puppet Theater – Creating Puppets and Using Them for Expression, Control, and Empowerment
  • The Therapeutic Story – for Relaxation, Connection to Strength, and Empowerment
  • Rhythm, Sound and Movement for Expression and the Development of Resilience
  • The Social Game – Types of Games and Their Use for Developing Social Communication Skills
  • From Scribble to Creation – from Submitting the Materials to Creative Processes to Establishing Contact, Expression, and Development
  • Drama and Play – to Express and Develop Social Skills
  • Children with Special Needs – Unique Characteristics and Ways of Working
  • Developmental Psychology – Issues and Challenges in a Changing World
  • Violence in Young Children – Characteristics, Meanings, and Methods of Treatment
  • ICT and Innovation in Early Childhood Learning
  • Guiding Groups Combining Arts – Theory and Practice
  • Social-Emotional Development in the First Years of Life
  • Play It – Puppet Theater and a Story
  • Developmental Deficiencies and Their Effect on the Child’s Functioning
  • Children with Integration Difficulties in Educational Settings
  • Prevention of Violence in Preschool Educational Settings

 

The structure of the program and the learning methods:

  • An intensive program, one study day for 4 consecutive semesters (from October 2021 to February 2023) that includes studies and practical experience
  • The program combines theoretical and practical studies – lectures, discussions, and experiential workshops in the fields of play therapy and the arts
  • Includes practical experience in the educational frameworks where the student works accompanied by guidance at the college

To view the complete study program, click here

Skills you'll have after graduating from this program

  • To combine therapeutic approaches of play, puppet theater, creative skills
  • To help children with integration difficulties and violence
  • Integrate children with special needs into preschool educational settings
  • Strengthen children’s resilience
  • Make the daycare a “social daycare”
  • To guide a group of parents and staff members
  • To deal with the new challenges in the early childhood educational frameworks posed by the current times
I Believe
Dr. Marie-Lyne Smadja Head of the program
Early childhood education is a long-term investment. Those who invest in early childhood education invest for life.

Our Program Graduates Speak

"The decision to go to study for a master's degree was the obvious choice to me. To my delight, I received much more than I expected in my studies! First, the teaching staff, which at the time was headed by Prof. Gila Kurtz and passed to Dr. Gila Levy Atzmon, who led the field to the top. It was just amazing. Inclusion, empathetic listening, and infinite patience are not taken for granted in academia. Regarding the study contents, these have always been of the highest, latest and most relevant level, which have contributed and continue to contribute a lot to me in my various roles."
Limor Ben-Ari
Graduate
The degree is recognized for scholarships from the Teachers' Union/Teachers' Association/Kindergarteners' Association.

More About the Program

The uniqueness of the program:

  • Therapy in play and the arts – learning main models from the field for application in individual and group work
  • Guiding groups – acquiring and developing knowledge and skills for guiding and leading diverse groups and combining the arts
  • Developing resilience, coping resources, and social skills – imparting applied and innovative knowledge from play therapy and the arts: drama, acting, movement, music, and creativity
  • Efficiency, up-to-date, and relevance – improving the professional abilities of the participants and adapting them to the needs of the current times
  • Excellent staff – from the top game and art therapists in Israel
  • Combining theory and experience to comprehensively understand and be able to apply all areas of art therapy

Important details to know:

  • The degree is recognized for professional development by the Ministry of Education
  • The degree is recognized by the Higher Education Council
  • The degree is recognized for tuition refunds
  • The degree is recognized for a scholarship from the Teachers’ Union/Teachers’ Association

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