Lately, the world has had to face new challenges that have sprung up unexpectedly, and we have needed quick, effective responses to address changes in the educational sphere, during and after the pandemic. Now, it is more necessary than ever to work with broad perspectives and to connect all the stakeholders in the educational sector, both in and out of schools, to ensure we offer equal opportunities.
Projects like ON BOARD, in which Viladecans has been participating actively with its European partners since 2017, clearly show the positive impact of mobilising and encouraging collaboration among stakeholders. They also show how setting up an Educational Innovation Network (EIN) helps promote working as a network and reinforce local education ecosystems.
Now, though, Viladecans is going one step further with the new strategy it announced recently called 360º Education. This new strategy falls under the 360º Education Alliance, which Viladecans joined in 2019. This initiative, promoted by the Barcelona Regional Council, Federation of Pedagogical Renovation Movements of Catalonia (FMRPC) and the Jaume Bofill Foundation, brings together town councils and local bodies, educational centres, associations and free-time organisations, and the voluntary sector.
This new strategy aims to ensure fairness and equality in learning opportunities, taking educational activity beyond schools. It is a proposal with a global take on education, with a 360º view that takes into account that we learn and educate everywhere, all the time, going beyond space and time limits, and recognises learning from all over and connects education, school, families and the community.
To shape the strategy, a multidisciplinary Steering Group has been set up, with primary and secondary school teachers, youth and sports groups, family associations, the Psycho-Pedagogical Advisory Team, the Barcelona Regional Council and the Viladecans City Council Department of Sport and Education.
The work milestones are to:
- Ensure more and better educational opportunities for all.
- Create local 360º Education ecosystems.
- Promote the 4 key challenges to build the 360º Education ecosystems:
- Boosting access and participation for all children and young people in initiatives of high educational value.
- Connecting the interests and motivations of children and young people with the educational resources in the area.
- Promoting connected, formal and informal, learning spaces through collaborations among the various stakeholders.
- Increasing the community’s social capital, boosting collaborations to come up with effective responses to the educational needs of children and young people.
360º Education will kick off with a pilot project with organisations that work with children to help them manage their emotions in line with what educational centres do and to ensure continuity of learning at school and outside of school.
The 360º Education project will complement the Educational Innovation Network and help foster the educational success of children in the city.
More info here