A toy clinic shop: Innovation management in a Shin-Tai elementary school

Abstract

In Taiwan there is a declining birth rate and a dramatic increase in the elderly population. There is also the trend of using school space that would otherwise be left unused. The experimental project “Toy Clinic Shop in Elementary School” offers an innovative management model for elementary schools to address these developments. The following are included in the project goals: lifelong learning, service learning, and intergenerational interaction. The Toy Clinic Shop is not only a place offering the opportunity for intergenerational contact, but also for sharing and learning from each other. When the elderly contribute to the shop, they enjoy being with children, and they can experience the so called Ta Tung world of utopia where they enjoy being with young people. Furthermore, schools can benefit from the project because it promotes a school's many functions, collects more resources, creates social value among retired people, and develops the human resource of the elderly.