Olympian teacher and child care educators. “It's very important to manage your emotions”

A psychology teacher from Bârlad (Vaslui) introduced the classes of child educators into the education system in Romania: high school students are prepared for the early education of children younger than 3 years old.

Daniela Marinescu (43 years old), psychology teacher and director at the “Ioan Popescu” Pedagogical High School in Bârlad (Vaslui), was designated a Merito teacher in 2023 for the initiative to create classes of child care educators, for students who are preparing to work in nurseries and kindergartens, but also for the results obtained by them at the Olympiads of psychological disciplines and the Olympiad of animators.

Daniela graduated from the same high school where she currently teaches, then attended the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the University “Al.I. Cuza” from Iasi, has a master's degree in Human Relations and Communication and a doctorate in Social Relations. She has been a teacher since 2011 and teaches communication techniques, general psychology, age psychology, special psychopedagogy and educational psychology.

He initially wanted to become a psychotherapist or work in research, but the position of school counselor was the first available job. She then realized that it was the best choice, and now she can't imagine not working with the students, teachers and parents, whom she feels close to her soul.

“After I came to high school, I found that I did a little bit of everything, and in the field of research and psychotherapy, as a counselor. I also had a counseling and speech therapy office. The love for children and seeing them develop and go through stage after stage made me realize that this is what I really want: to see them develop”, Daniela told with emotion for “Weekend Adevărul”.

Olympians and future teachers

Over the years, her students have achieved notable results at the Pedagogy-Psychology Olympiad, where their theoretical knowledge is tested, and at the Animation Olympiad, which tests their ability to create games through personal development and entertainment tests socio-educational.

“I design and implement games that help participants get to know each other or energize them. Students must come up with creative, innovative ideas to make the games a little more complicated. Communication with the participants in the games and collaboration between the students is also pursued”, the teacher explains how the Animators' Olympiad takes place, which emphasizes the skills of organizing and supporting children's extracurricular educational activities.

Since 2008, since he has been preparing students for the national olympiads in psychological disciplines, they have obtained first place six times and second place eight times. At the Animation Olympiad, students from Bârlad have won 1st and 2nd place in recent years.

Educators-puericulturists, a novelty in Romanian education

As director, Daniela Marinescu was involved in the establishment of the class of educators-puericulturists, a novelty for pedagogical high schools in Romania, for students preparing to work in nurseries and kindergartens. Early childhood educators are specialized in the early education of children aged 1-3 years.

It also has a merit in the creation of two classes of extracurricular education instructors, where those who organize school trips, camps, animation activities or other extracurricular activities are trained.

During the four years of high school, students do weekly practice in kindergartens, schools, NGOs, at the Student Club, and get to work with all categories of children and learn what the specifics of the activities are for each one. Most of them become educators or teachers and work in parallel in playschools, playgrounds or institutions that organize free time.

“We thought it would be useful for society to train students for such a specialization as well. Because there are few places available in the schools for extracurricular education instructors, I think we will keep the class of child educators. We are primarily thinking about their insertion on the labor market”, points out the director of the Pedagogical High School in Bârlad.

A unique high school

Daniela Marinescu believes that her goal as a teacher is to help students discover their resources, then support them to capitalize on them. She uses positive feedback a lot to motivate her students, so much so that the kids joke with her that she has developed a
“obsession” for this concept.

“When the student is either responding in class, solving an assignment, or teaching a lesson when I'm tutoring, I like to first find the positives in everything they've done. That gives him confidence and helps him build further,” Daniela shows.

Many high school students in Bârlad come from rural areas, are shy, and the key to harnessing their true potential is to help them gradually discover themselves. Always discuss with them where they still need to work and what they should improve, and self-evaluation often proves to be the best teacher.

Because the “Ioan Popescu” Pedagogical High School is unique in Romania, being a combination of pedagogical disciplines, fine arts, music and sports, Daniela always creates contexts in which students and teachers from different specializations work together.

“The activities we do surprise a little bit of everything. For example, at an activity in the park we had sports trails, practicing musical and visual arts skills, so they could create something with the materials we made available, and on the pedagogy side they organized, explained and collaborated between They”,
says the teacher.

Emotional intelligence, optional in class

She has been coordinating many Erasmus projects in the high school she leads for ten years, during which methodological guides for educators, guides for parents and didactic materials were created. It now also supports the introduction of an emotional intelligence development elective in the classroom.

“Obviously, it's very important to manage your emotions. It is not enough just to be aware of them, but also to manage the way in which you manifest them. Students must learn to transform dysfunctional emotions, which affects their mood, confidence, self-esteem and relationships with others, in functional emotions, even if they are unpleasant. For example, it's okay to be angry in a certain situation, but not to be angry too,” explains Daniela.

The teacher constantly checks that her teaching methods and those of her colleagues are working, and she turns to one of her passions – research – to check how motivated students are about learning.

Her dream project is to build a new building in the high school yard to house music classes, art workshops and a hall where student performances and exhibitions can take place, and she hopes that this idea will become a reality in the near future. .

Her wish is that the students of the high school she leads remain with the love of people and respect for others, but also with many other things.

“Skills are also important. It is about the ability to organize an activity, to collaborate with those involved in it and to honestly evaluate one's work. When they do something, do it with motivation and maximum involvement, responsibility and enthusiasm. Let them like what they do, not do it just because it has to be done”,
concludes psychology teacher Daniela Marinescu.