REPAIR CAFÉ IN THE CLASSROOM Manual for teaching one or more

Repair Café lessons at primary schools

Repaircafe.org/en

Bin it? No way!

https://repaircafe.org/en/

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Colophon

Publication Repair Café International Foundation

Text Martine Postma

Photography Martin Waalboer

(unless otherwise indicated)

Disclaimer

No rights can be derived from the information in this

manual. Repair Café International Foundation is also not

liable for damages resulting from following the advice in

this manual. Local organisers and schools should prevent

potential risks themselves and are responsible for safety

during their Repair Café lessons.

Copyright Repair Café International Foundation,

Amsterdam, 2019

Copying and reproducing texts from this publication is only

permitted with the written permission of

Repair Café International Foundation.

“I was greatly encouraged by the practical lesson.

Yes, the children were noisy. But it was clear that the noise was children

at work. That’s different to children who aren’t concentrating.”

(teacher Esther van den Oever of the Montessori school Oegstgeest)

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Content

Thank you! ..........................................................................................................................................4

Introduction .........................................................................................................................................5

For whom? ..........................................................................................................................................6

Dealing with pupils in first and second grade (6-8 years old) ......................................................................7

Dealing with pupils in third and fourth grade (8-10 years old) .....................................................................8

Dealing with pupils in fifth and sixth grade (10-12 years old) ......................................................................9

One or more lessons?..........................................................................................................................10

Plan ..................................................................................................................................................11

Teacher’s briefing ..............................................................................................................................13

Introductory lesson .............................................................................................................................14

Practical lesson with Repair Café volunteers ...........................................................................................16

Evaluation .........................................................................................................................................21

Choosing volunteers ...........................................................................................................................22

Choosing a contact person ...................................................................................................................22

Safety and liability ..............................................................................................................................23

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Thank you!

The tips in this manual are based, among other

things, on the practical experiences of various Repair

Cafés with workshops at primary schools, namely:

• Repair Café Eindhoven-Woensel • Repair Café Dordrecht • Repair Café Oegstgeest

Educational input was provided by Esther van den

Oever, teacher and technology coordinator of the

Montessori School Oegstgeest, and by Jelle Beijer of

Montessorinet, the platform for and by Montessori

teachers in the Netherlands.

Repair Café International would like to thank everyone

who contributed to this manual. Of course, we also

acknowledge the enthusiastic pupils who took part

in the lessons. Some of the quotes you will find

throughout this manual are from them.

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Introduction

Dear Repair Café volunteer,

Recently, you’ve enthusiastically dedicated yourself to the Repair Café in your municipality. On behalf of

Repair Café International, I would like to thank you for that. Partly due to your efforts, less is being thrown

away in your neighbourhood, repair knowledge is being imparted, and neighbours are interacting with one

another in a fun way. All this contributes to a sustainable and inclusive society.

You have probably noticed at your Repair Café that most repairers, as well as most visitors, belong to an

older generation. It’s safe to say: not many children and young people come to Repair Cafés. In the long

run, this is a threat to the viability of Repair Cafés across the globe. To keep the initiative going in the

future, it’s necessary for younger generations to realise the usefulness of making repairs. And how much

fun it can be!

That’s why, we think it’s great that you and your local Repair Café team are going to teach one (or more)

lessons at a primary school in your area. During those lessons, the pupils will see that making repairs is

often possible, that it’s fun, and that they too can learn to make them.

The tips in this manual will help you get started. Read them carefully and if necessary ‘translate’ them to

the situation in your area. Good luck!

Kind regards,

The Repair Café International team

PS. Do you have any comments or additions to the information in this manual? Let us know!

With your suggestions, we can make the manual even more comprehensive.

You can contact us at info@repaircafe.org.

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For whom?

You can learn how to make repairs! Even for young

children, it’s fun and useful to experience that a loose

toy car wheel can be reattached. That a wobbly pulley

toy animal out of wood can be glued back together.

And that a bear’s torn-off head can be neatly sewn

back to his body. You’re never too young to learn

about making repairs.

The same goes for attending a Repair Café class at

primary school. Such a lesson can be successful in

any grade. There’s no problem, as long as you adapt

the level of explanation and the nature of the repairs

to the level of development and the perception of

the children.

This manual is aimed at teaching children 6 to 12

years old (in grades 1 to 6 at primary schools). In

the next chapters, you can read more about the

developmental level of children of these ages. Always

talk about it beforehand with the teacher of the grade

in which your Repair Café lesson will be given. He/She

deals with the children every day and knows what

they can and can’t handle.

Tips from repairer Eric:

“Bring a supply of batteries (A-AA-AAA) along so you can test a

toy’s batteries. And make sure there are enough screwdrivers

in the discovery box.”

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Dealing with pupils in first and second grade (6-8 years old)

In first and second grade, children are very open

to new information. After their childhood, in which

they’ve already playfully learned a lot, they’re now

starting to discover the systems and structures that

are important in our daily lives. They’ve started

learning to read, write, calculate and are interested in

rules, values, and norms. They want to know how to

do things. An excellent time to introduce them to the

possibilities of making repairs!

They quickly become handier, motorically speaking.

They get their swimming diplomas, in the course of

first grade they can all cycle without side-wheels, they

can build things with Lego and Kapla. At school, they

learn to work with computers and - within certain

limits - they can independently search for information

on the Internet.

Six and seven-year-olds understand that you

shouldn’t touch hot objects, that a needle is sharp

and a saw quite dangerous if you don’t use it for its

intended purpose. Some children are therefore a little

afraid or insecure to deal with these kinds of things.

That doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t try to. If you

show them how something should be done, do it

together or help a little, you’ll see that their attitude

will change and that they too will get going. And be

proud when the pieces are sewn together, or the

board is sawn in two.

By nature, most young children aren’t afraid of

‘dangerous’ things, but take over the fear of the

adults who want to protect them. In many cases,

this isn’t necessary at all. Be sure to remember this

during the Repair Café class.

“The joint enthusiasm of volunteers and children was great!

And I was very pleased to have been able to convince the volunteers

that young children also have a lot to offer.”w

(Esther van den Oever, teacher of grade 1-2 of the

Montessori school Oegstgeest, after the practical lesson)

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Dealing with pupils in third and fourth grade (8-10 years old)

In third and fourth grade, children are bigger, more

independent and more responsible. They can plan and

set themselves a task. They have a broad interest,

can concentrate on a subject for a longer period of

time and can investigate something.

At school, they learn multiplication tables, spelling

difficult words, and geography and history. They give

talks and make reports. They watch children’s news

and are getting a better understanding of what’s

happening in the world.

They also further develop their motor skills. They

become stronger and more agile, do (team) sports

and can do more fiddly work, such as making

jewellery or working with technical Lego and Knex.

With all the knowledge and skills they have gained,

children of the third and fourth grade are perfect

repairers. Remember this when your Repair Café

class takes place in these grades. Don’t intervene

too quickly if you feel that things should be done

differently. Don’t be too worried that something will

go wrong.

Tip from repairer Fons:

“During a lesson, also look for things to fix at

school. In Amsterdam-IJburg we repaired the

entrance gate. It now closes properly again.

That gate reminds the children of the repair

lesson every day.”

Photo: Wendy Weijts

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Dealing with pupils in fifth and sixth grade (10-12 years old)

In the fifth grade of primary school, children are often

already pretty worldly, in eighth grade they’re quite

mature. They have knowledge in all kinds of areas:

they know about fractions and percentages, analyse

sentences, know everything about the continent they

live in, the Romans, hieroglyphics, the solar system,

... They watch films and series, and at the dinner

table, they can participate in adult conversation.

Generally, children of this age also have well-

developed motor skills. Many have played sports and/

or made music for years, can draw or make beautiful

things, they can bake cookies (almost) independently

and are surprisingly handy with computers and

smartphones.

In short, you can work very well with them. They’re

perfectly capable of doing things for themselves and

want to. So, give them a chance to do so during the

Repair Café lesson! Explain in words what the purpose

of a repair is, but, if possible, try not to pull the item

or tool out of their hands.

“I’m going to be really careful with

my doll’s head from now on. But if it

falls off again, I’ll know how to put

it back on!”

Photo: Wendy Weijts

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One or more lessons?

In this manual, we describe the preparation and

execution of three lessons on the subject of repairing.

The teacher gives two of them (the introductory

lesson and the evaluation), the practical lesson also

includes Repair Café volunteers in the classroom.

Of course, this isn’t a binding agreement. Depending

on the possibilities and wishes of those involved, the

lessons can be turned into one lesson, or extended to

a longer series. Local Repair Café groups and schools

can decide for themselves what suits them best.

Experience shows that it’s useful to have a theoretical

lesson before the practical lesson to answer questions

such as: Why is repairing useful? What are raw

materials and why do we need to use them sparingly?

What happens to the ever-growing waste? These

questions can be discussed in an introductory lesson,

which also calls on the children to look for broken

items at home that can be repaired during the

practical lesson.

The evaluation after the practical lesson is also shown

as a separate lesson in this manual. It looks back at

the repair session, lists which items were repaired and

which were not, and raises questions such as: What

have the children learned? What stuck with them

most? What will they do differently in the future?

The answers to these types of questions will help

determine how the school can continue with this

theme, and how teaching repair skills can be further

integrated into education.

In practice, it appears to work well not to do the

evaluation immediately after the repair lesson, but,

for example, a day later. The children can then let the

experience sink in a bit and talk about the lesson at

home. In this way, it becomes clearer what stuck, and

what made the most impression. This information can

be valuable for the school.

“If we go on like this, we’ll need two planet earths!”

Repairer Fons tells the class about the consequences of

our throw-away behaviour.

Photo: Wendy Weijts

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Plan

In the run-up to your first Repair Café class in the

classroom, there’s plenty to prepare. Below, we list

all these activities. The following chapters will offer

more information about the how and why of all these

points.

Exploratory phase• Explore the Repair Café volunteers’ interests• Have exploratory talks with (a) school(s) in the

neighbourhood: Which school is interested in the

Repair Café lesson? Who will be the school’s

contact person?

Preparatory phaseTogether with the school:

• Pick a date, preferably a month or two ahead of time

• Determine in which grade the Repair Café class will be given

• Discuss which items are suitable for reparation during class, so that pupils can search for broken

items in a targeted way at home

• Discuss when the teacher will announce the lesson in the class and asks pupils to bring broken items

to school

• Discuss whether a message can be sent to the parents to ask for a few extra (handy) supervisors

during the practical lesson

Within the Repair Café group:

• Select volunteers: a successful classroom lesson requires around 5 or more motivated volunteers

with different skills

• Think about the required tools and other materials • Divide tasks within the group• Start searching for items to fill the ‘discovery box’

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Don’t forget! * •Supply of batteries (A-AA-AAA) * •Tire repair kit

* •Enough screwdrivers* •Bicycle pump

Month in advanceCheck with school:

• Has the lesson been announced in class?• Have the pupils begun looking for broken things

at home?

• Have the parents been requested to lend a helping hand during the practical lesson?

Check within Repair Café group:

• Is anyone already filling the ‘discovery box’?

Two weeks in advanceCheck with school:

• Which broken items have the children already collected?• Could the teacher email a photo of the items, which the

volunteers can use to prepare themselves even more?

• Could the teacher check whether individual children are not allowed to be photographed during the lesson?

• Have (handy) parents been found to help during the practical lesson?

Check within Repair Café group:

• Do the volunteers already know what tools/material they’re going to take to school?

• Have they thought about ways to make sure there is something for all the pupils in their group to do?

• Are there any tools or materials in the ‘discovery box’ already?

One week in advanceCheck with school:

• Have any new items been brought in?• Are sockets and extension cords/cable reels

available in the classroom? This is necessary to

be able to use tools such as a sewing machine or

soldering iron.

• What is needed to show the Repair Café International video during class? Can it be displayed on the

Interactive White Board? Or is a laptop necessary

(+ in that case: connection cables)?

• Will the teacher fill a sticker sheet with the names of all those present?

Check within Repair Café group:

• Who will bring a laptop (if necessary for showing the video)?

• Are the tools and materials ready, is everyone involved prepared, is the discovery box complete?

• Will everyone bring their Repair Café badge with them?

On the day• Get to the school on time to prepare • Check with the teacher: are there any children who

you aren’t allowed to photograph?

• During the lesson: make sure everything goes well • Take photos

A day later• Thank all the volunteers who participated; if

possible send a nice photo. Request feedback for

the evaluation

• Place a post with pictures on your website/Facebook page

• Send an email to the school with a link to post• Request feedback from the teacher for the

evaluation

A few days later• Explore whether volunteers or the school are

interested in offering the same lesson in another

class or another type of follow-up lesson.

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Teacher’s briefing

The Repair Café lesson is planned in close

consultation with the teacher of the related grade.

Therefore, we’ve prepared a special briefing for

teachers. You can find this briefing in the folder with

additional material in this manual. It’s useful to give

this briefing to the teacher at the earliest possible

moment and review the document together. This

consultation will ensure that you’re on the same

page and prevent misunderstandings. The briefing

describes everything that’s mentioned in the following

chapters about the introductory lesson, the practical

lesson, and the evaluation. The briefing also contains

information about the learning objectives the teacher

can have for the lessons.

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Introductory lesson

Duration: 30 minutes

It’s nice if the teacher of the class in which your

Repair Café lesson will take place informs the pupils

about the plans well in advance. For example, a

month in advance, he/she can give a first lesson

about broken things and the usefulness of making

repairs. At the end of this first lesson, the pupils are

invited to look for broken items at home and bring

them to school: toys, clothes (trousers with a tear

at the knee, sock with a hole in it), headphones, a

cuddly toy, a doll, a bag, a bracelet, something from

their own bicycle...

The message of the introductory lesson is that people

in western society are producing far too much waste

and, because we’re constantly buying new products,

we’re rapidly depleting raw material reserves. If we

do more repairs, we won’t. And we will also tackle the

waste problem. All this makes repairing better on

all fronts!

Group discussionDuring the introduction lesson, the teacher can start a

group discussion, for example by asking the following

questions:

• What happens at the children’s home if something is broken?

• Do they ever repair something themselves? • Does their father/mother/guardian ever repair

something?

• Do they think it’s a shame, or even feel bad, if something breaks?

• If they throw away broken things, what happens to those things? Where is it taken?

• What do they think about many of these things being burned?

• Do they like getting new things, like toys or a bag?• Where do new things come from? • What is needed to make all these things?• Do they think that children all over the world have

as many toys and other stuff as they do?

• Do they think that children in other countries might want all these things?

• Do they think it’s possible, that everyone in the world has as many toys and stuff as they do? “O... that bump on the battery

needs to be on the other side! I’m

going to tell daddy that.”

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To enrich their knowledge on raw materials, the

teacher can use the tips on the raw materials ideas

sheet, which you’ll find in the additional material to

this manual.

Request: search for broken items at homeAgree with the teacher that pupils should be asked to

collect broken items at least one month in advance.

Advise the teacher to place the items in a visible

place in the classroom, for example on a table at the

front of the room. That way, children will get a daily

reminder that they have to bring something for the

repair lesson, and hopefully, it’ll also arouse

their curiosity.

It’s best if the children bring their own stuff. It

helps them be involved in the repair, and they can

experience the effect of a successful repair. As a

result, the lesson will stick with them for longer, and

they’ll hopefully think more about the possibility of

making repairs in the future. Therefore, strive to

ensure that as many children as possible bring an

item with them. It’s also nice when lots of different

kinds of items are brought along.

For appliances or technical toys, mechanical things

are preferable to electrical or electronic items. In the

first category, a repairer can more easily show what

he’s doing which will make it come alive for children.

In any case, try to avoid pupils bringing game

consoles or electric toothbrushes. Repairing such

things often takes longer and is less successful.

The teacher can add broken items from the school.

Think of a broken hole puncher, a wooden abacus with

loose ends or even kindergarten’s cuddly toys.

Provide at least ten items to be repaired, preferably

more. Fifteen items is a good number, but ideally,

there are as many broken items as there are pupils.

It’s nice if during the practical lesson some (handy)

parents are present. The more supervisors, the more

attention every child gets, and the greater the chance

that the children will actually learn something about

repairing. The teacher can ask parents about a month

in advance, around the same time as requesting the

children to look for broken items at home.

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Practical lesson with Repair Café volunteers

Duration: 1 to 1.5 hours (excluding setting up and cleaning up)

Global plan:Set up (± 15 minutes)

Introduction (± 5 minutes)

Getting started in groups (50 to 80 minutes)

Rounding off (± 5 minutes)

Cleaning up (± 15 minutes)

Setting upIt’s practical to start the lesson after the lunch

break. During the break, the volunteers can prepare

everything after discussing it with the teacher.

• Create as many sets of tables as there are volunteers

• Place the collected broken items on a central table• Make sure each set of tables as a power supply with

the help of extension cords or cable reels.

• Place the discovery box in a visible place • Ask the teacher to write the names of all the

children on a sticker sheet

Tip from Repair Café Oegstgeest:

“Try to get (handy) parents

involved in the project from the

start. They can be accommodating

during the practical lesson. And if

parents are enthusiastic, it’ll also be

easier to continue making repairs at

school afterwards.”

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Introduction The teacher can give the children a general

introduction of what to expect in the coming

hour (and a half) and introduces the Repair Café

volunteers. Everyone should wear a name sticker so

that everyone can call each other by name.

One of the volunteers can briefly say something

about the Repair Café. Make sure you stick to the

core: the Repair Café is all about repairing broken

things together, which is useful and fun. Don’t go into

too much detail about the exact course of events in

the Repair Café. In other words, don’t elaborate on

volunteering, registration forms, house rules, tip jars

and such. In general, all this means little to children

and isn’t relevant to them. Moreover, most pupils will

be eager to get to work. So, don’t test their patience

longer than necessary.

Getting started in groupsAfter the introduction, it’s high time to get to work

yourself. One volunteer per set of tables will take the

lead. This person introduces him/herself, tells about

his/her repair knowledge, and invites the children

to find one broken item from the central table that

matches this knowledge.

Ideally, choose an item that belongs to one of the

children in the group. Firstly, because children want

to see their own teddy bear or so being repaired.

Secondly, because the owner of the broken item

will remember the volunteer’s repair tips the best,

after all, this is the child who wants it to be repaired.

Therefore, this child will probably pay the best

attention. For this reason, it’s beneficial if there are as

many items as possible to choose from, with as many

different owners as possible. Thereby, reaching as

many children as possible.

Make sure all the volunteers are aware beforehand

of what broken items the children have collected.

Ideally, the teacher has photographed all the things

and sent the photos to the Repair Café volunteers a

week in advance. This way, the volunteers know what

to expect and can make sure they have the right tools

with them, and so avoid any disappointments during

the lesson.

We pointed out above that it’s nice when there are

a lot of broken items on the central table. That way,

you can keep going when the first item is repaired

quickly, or if an item cannot be repaired. It also gives

you the opportunity to provide all the children in the

group with something to do. Who can’t help with the

ongoing repair, or isn’t so interested in it, could look

at another item and try to figure out what might be

needed to repair it.

During the practical lesson, it’s useful to

be able to call each other by name.

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Extra choresApart from the actual repairs, you can also think of

some chores for children who have nothing to do at a

particular moment. Bring your own material for these

jobs. Anything is possible.

For example, a sewing volunteer could bring some

(clean) socks or mittens with a hole in them,

darning needles and cards of stop wool in various

colours. Darning is a forgotten art, but it’s fun to do,

not difficult, and you get quick results. And that’s

precisely what you want during a lesson like this!

Volunteers who are handy with electrical appliances

may think of loose plugs to attach to cords. Bring

your own: plugs, cables, pliers, and plenty of

matching screwdrivers.

Bicycle repairers can get a few old inner tubes from

the bicycle repair shop and let the children practice

finding punctures and pasting the tyre. Bring along:

matching valves, bicycle pump, sandpaper, stickers,

solution, etc.

For all these jobs, make sure you have some

complete sets of material available and enough tools

so that several children can work at the same time.

Discovery boxBesides the repairs and chores per group, it’s also

nice to provide an extra activity in which pupils can

participate independently. For example, when they

have nothing to do in their group, when they’re ready

or when their attention has waned for some reason.

A ‘discovery box’ is a good idea. This is a box or

container with things in which the children can freely

snoop and which they can examine and take apart to

their heart’s con

Fill it with (parts of) broken stuff that couldn’t be

repaired at your Repair Café, but which can still be

tinkered with. Electrical appliances are fun, but try

to prevent that the box only contains things with a

plug. A mechanical alarm clock is wonderful research

material, so is an old scale, a stapler, ...

You can also visit the local thrift store or recycle shop;

they’ll probably have things in the warehouse that

could fill the discovery box.

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The discovery box also includes a toolbox, with

screwdrivers, pliers and everything else you think

could be useful for investigating. Again, make sure

you have enough copies of each tool. So, not one

screwdriver with cross head and one with trench head,

but five of each. Having enough tools and materials

will allow more children to work at the same time.

For many children, browsing around in a toolbox

is an experience in and of itself. It’s entirely possible

that they’ve never seen certain things before.

Think of a soldering iron or a voltage meter. That’s

why it’s nice when a volunteer is available to

explain the items in the discovery box, including the

accompanying toolbox.

To structure the work in this part of the lesson, you

can put some copies of the ‘discovery-page’ next to

the box. The Montessori School Oegstgeest made this

sheet for that purpose. You can find this worksheet

in the folder with additional material in this manual.

It’s not completely necessary, by the way. Experience

shows that the children can enjoy the discovery box

perfectly well without specific assignments.

Switch every 15 minutesTo introduce the children to as many different repair

skills as possible, you can, for example, have the

groups move on to the next volunteer every fifteen

minutes. Switching will prevent some children from

being immersed in sewing techniques for an hour,

while they may be more interested in fixing tyres or

repairing electrically controlled toy cars.

Rounding upAfter 50 to 80 minutes - depending on the length you

and the teacher agreed upon beforehand - it’s time to

round up. While the volunteers store their tools and

materials, the children can bring the repaired items to

the central table. Let them also set aside the (not yet)

repaired stuff.

It’s nice when the children have some time to walk

around the table, to look at all the stuff and to talk

about it a bit. If possible, someone will take a picture

of the children and the Repair Café volunteers,

grouped around the central table. This picture may be

useful at a later stage when other teachers or parents

need to be encouraged to contribute to future repair

activities at school.

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After cleaning up and taking the photo, the lesson is

over. By way of conclusion, the volunteers can hand

out Repair Café flyers, and invite the children and the

parents to drop by.

After the practical lesson, everyone is probably

quite tired or at least a bit weary. Therefore, a

comprehensive evaluation immediately afterwards is

not advisable. However, it’s useful to evaluate at a

later time, to find out what the children thought of the

lesson and to find out how the teacher and volunteers

liked it. When saying goodbye to the class, make an

appointment with the teacher to evaluate the lesson

soon. On that occasion, try to make plans for a

follow-up immediately.

The result of an afternoon repair in grade 1/2 of the Montessori School

Oegstgeest. In the back row: seven volunteers from Repair Café Oegstgeest.

“Look, Miss, my bear’s working again!”

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Evaluation

Duration: 30 minutes

Experience has taught us, that it works best if the

teacher doesn’t evaluate the repair lesson with the

class immediately after the lesson, but, for example,

a day later. The children can then let the experience

sink in a bit and talk about the class at home. In this

way, it becomes clearer what stuck, and what made

the most impression. This information can be valuable

and can help the school determine how making

repairs can be further integrated into education.

Let the children have their say during the

evaluation. The teacher could, for example, ask the

following questions:

• How did the children experience the practical lesson?• Which part did they like most and why? • What did they learn?• Did they notice anything specific? If so, what?

• Was the item they brought with them repaired? If so, what was wrong and how was it fixed?

• Did they help with the repair? If so, what did they do?• Which items were repaired, which ones weren’t? • Why could certain items not be repaired?• What will happen to the items that haven’t (yet)

been repaired?

• What items were in the discovery box?• What did they learn by working with this box?• Do the children think differently about making

repairs?

• What will they do from now on if something at home breaks?

• Will they repair more at home?• Will they change their behaviour in any other way?• Would they like to learn more about making repairs?• Would they like it if there were more opportunities

at school to repair broken items, together with

people who can?

• Is their father/mother/guardian handy?• Would their father/mother/guardian like to help

with repairs at school from time to time?

Tip from repairer Lia: “Have all

participating volunteers pack their

own tools. That way, you’ll know

for sure that they’ll bring all the

right things. If, for example, you

have a technician pack the sewing

equipment, you run the risk that

they forget the foot pedal of the

sewing machine or that they bring

the wrong needles.”

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Choosing volunteers

For a successful practical lesson in the classroom, at

least five motivated volunteers are needed. Preferably

more! The more supervisors there are, the smaller

the workgroups can be, and the more personal

attention each child gets. Personal attention increases

the chance that you connect with the pupils and make

them enthusiastic about repairing.

It’s essential that the participating repairers have

some affinity with children. Not everyone has that.

Volunteers who expect their audience to sit still all

the time and not interrupt may not be suitable as a

supervisor during the practical lesson. The same goes

for repairers who prefer to work on their own and find

it difficult to let others have a go.

Suitable volunteers are those who can let

someone else fiddle about, without immediately

intervening; those who can accept that someone

repairs something less well than they would have

done themselves; and those who understand that

beginners can also handle a saw, a soldering iron

or a needle.

Choosing a contact person

When preparing the lesson(s), it’s good to have

one contact person at the school. Ideally, this is the

teacher of the class getting the lesson(s). In most

cases, this teacher will automatically become the

contact person, even when the first contact was with

someone else (such as the principal or technical

coordinator).

Also, assign a person within the Repair Café group to

maintain contact with the school. The contact person

can be one of the repairers, but also the one who

has the role of coordinator within the Repair Café.

It works best if the contact person is the one who is

most enthusiastic about the repair lesson(s) at school.

23

Bin it? No way!

WORKING SAFELY IN THE REPAIR CAFÉ

Repaircafe.org

Safety and liability

Just like during a regular Repair Café, safety is critical

during a Repair Café class at school. The Repair Café

starter kit contains a document specifically about

this, entitled ‘Working safely in the Repair Café’. Read

this document carefully during the preparation phase

and discuss the subject of safety with all the people

involved, both within your group and with school. Ask

the teacher to explain the subject of safety with the

class beforehand.

Important: follow the advice given in the document

about safety while working! For example, always

ensure a well-protected power supply with a separate

current transformer.

Repair Cafés that can no longer find the starter

kit can easily download a current version from

Repaircafe.org/en/start.

It’s also good to discuss the issue of liability with all

those involved. Repair Café International believes

that since the practical lesson is taught during school

hours, the school is responsible for the activity.

Therefore, according to the foundation, in principle,

no separate permission is required from parents/

guardians for participation in the lesson.

For comprehensiveness purposes, Repair Café

International has developed a special version of the

Repair Café house rules for primary school lessons.

You can find these rules in the folder with additional

material in this manual. Send them to the teacher

in the preparatory phase. They can give this to the

pupils so that parents/guardians are aware of it.

24

Thank you!IntroductionFor whom?Dealing with pupils in first and second grade (6-8 years old)Dealing with pupils in third and fourth grade (8-10 years old)Dealing with pupils in fifth and sixth grade (10-12 years old)One or more lessons?PlanTeacher’s briefing Introductory lessonPractical lesson with Repair Café volunteersEvaluationChoosing volunteersChoosing a contact personSafety and liability