Gaye Amus
 

Gaye Amus, born in Kuwait 1978, is from Istanbul,Turkey. Her bachelors is Industrial Engineering, but because of her passion to work with children and in the field of early childhood she decided to change her career. Gaye studied to be an English teacher and took a Montessori Assistant Teaching course. Music plays an important part in her life so she has integrated the Orff-Schulwerk approach (music, movement and dance education) with her work with children.Gaye has been in Finland for over four years now and has learnt Finnish as well (the children are the best teachers in many aspects). She has had the opportunity to work in the Reggio Emilia inspired public kindergarten Päiväkoti Ruusu and is currently working in a Finnish public kindergarten Päiväkoti Auringonkukka which is situated in an ecological area called Viikki.
These experiences came forth from her acquaintance with the Reggio Approach and her interest in outdoor education as it is currently taking place in the Nordic countries.

Her mission was to "unlearn the learned" and treat the universe as an open university. She worked in an English Emergent kindergarten in Istanbul as an English teacher for three years and travelled to Germany, Austria, Italy, Denmark and Finland to make kindergarten visits and studies with a special interest in alternative education and how space is used for children (Reggio Emilia, Rudolf Steiner-Waldorf kindergartens, Montessori, Wald (forest) kindergartens) These visits mirrored the way the society approached the child and were both reflective and informative.
In 2008, she decided to go abroad for one year and work in a forest kindergarten to gain experience and broaden her knowledge on outdoor education. Her adventure thus began in Finland by first working in Päiväkoti Sotkankoto, which operates according to the pedagogical principles of "at home in natural surroundings."
 

In her free time she sings in the multi-cultural women’s choir Kassandra, does woodwork, makes explorations in nature, and plays percussion instruments.
Gaye recently graduated as a kindergarten practical nurse, which she studied alongside her work. She is also attending SYKLI, the Environmental school of Finland, to be an Environmental Educator.

E-mail: gayeamus(at)gmail.com