Seven innovative, collaborative educational projects draw attention around Catalonia

By Anna Torres


The event is aimed at providing a platform for experts from around Catalonia who are working for change in education, particularly those pursuing a collaborative approach. A total of 76 innovative projects submitted drew 2650 votes from the public. From among these, the panel of specialist judges selected the following seven projects:
 

• Collaborating to innovate
  
  Year 8 and 9 pupils at the Quatre Cantons Secondary School spent five weeks working on a project commissioned by a number of institutions, including the Blau Museum, the Vila Casas Foundation, the Hangar creators' studio, the Abao a Qu Association, the producer Transformafilms, and Sala Beckett, a Barcelona theatre.
   
• Creativity through technology, science and art in schools with a high proportion of newly-arrived pupils
  
  For the third consecutive year, UdiGital.edu (at the University of Girona) is carrying out the TIC TAC project at the Veïnat de Salt and Dalmau Carles schools in Girona, where over 80% of pupils are from immigrant families. The project, inspired by the idea of magnet schools, involves children carrying out activities – at their own schools and the University of Girona's Science and Technology Park – that encourage them to use technology in a creative, critical way.
   
• Experimentation fair for children aged 0 to 6
  
  Every year students and faculty of the bachelors degree programme in Pre-Primary Education at Fundació Universitària el Bages (FUB) organize an "experimentation fair for children aged 0 to 6", an innovative project that brings together future teachers, university teaching staff, local children and society.
   
• Sweet Sefed – Pia School of Granollers
  
  Sixteen and seventeen-year-old pupils at the Pia School of Granollers set up a simulated sweet business known as Sweet Sefed.
   
• Students as digital leaders in class, Jesuïtes Bellvitge – Joan XXIII School
  
  What happens if we let teachers take the lead when it comes to teaching and organizing the classroom but put students in charge of the technical aspects of activities?
  Jesuïtes Bellvitge – Joan XXIII School is committed to making intensive use of technology in all its classrooms. Teachers focus on educational matters and count on student ICT experts for technical support. Members of the ICT expert team include pupils from preschool to Year 10.
   
• Look, Change and Action
  
  Pupils of foreign origin at the La Garrotxa Secondary School in Olot made a documentary about their country of origin. The main aim of the project was to have the pupils use audiovisual language, which they find more immediate and engaging, as an educational tool for raising awareness of other cultural and social realities, as well as focusing on migration. The audiovisual technique also creates a multiplier effect by winning people over to the cause of coexistence and tolerance. The project helps to break down prejudices and promotes values such as friendship, effort, autonomy and responsibility.
   
• To the Squares!
  
  "To the squares!", a project of the Granollers City Council carried out by schools and socio-cultural organizations, is aimed at generating actions in the public space that help forge bonds between different groups, particularly children, while also promoting participation. The project is based on networking and engagement with the community.
   
• Project Magnet – the Josep Maria de Sagarra School and the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA)
  
  The Josep Maria de Sagarra School is pursuing an innovative educational project within the framework of the programme "Magnet: Partnerships for Educational Success". The project, carried out in partnership with MACBA, is aimed at strengthening skills development at the school through activities that revolve around the theme of contemporary art.
   
• NouPatiCastellum: working together to create the school playground
  
  Pupils, families and teaching staff at the Castellum de Sant Julià de Ramis School worked together (on research, design and building) to make changes aimed at improving the school's new playground.
   

The panel of judges that selected the seven projects is composed of the following members:
 

• Roser Argemí, Jaume Bofill Foundation
• Joan Badia Pujol, senior secondary school teacher and founder of practicareflexiva.pro
• Teresa Guasch, UOC
• Olga Herrero, RocaSalvatella
• Josep Maria Mominó, UOC
• Sonia Navarro, Institute for Social Innovation, ESADE
• Ismael Palacín, Jaume Bofill Foundation
• Ismael Peña-López, Jaume Bofill Foundation
• Miquel Àngel Prats Fernández, Ramon Llull University
• Israel Rodríguez, UOC

The conference will be live streamed at the Debats d'Educació website.


Debats d'Educació

The conference will mark the conclusion of ten years of Debats d'Educació, a forum organized by the Jaume Bofill Foundation and the UOC, with the collaboration of MACBA. Over this period, the forum has featured fifty international experts. These specialists have participated in a wide range of debates on key topical and fundamental issues related to the challenges and problems that must be addressed through education in the contemporary social, political and economic context.