Spagna
In Spain, the Culture of Encounter initiative is coordinated by Scholas Occurrentes. For more information please write to: alessandra.graziosi@scholasoccurrentes.org or maria.jurado@scholasoccurrentes.org, or visit their website.
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Stories of Implementation
Workshop for Teachers and Learners in Valencia
December 2021
A workshop was held in Valencia from 30 November to 2 December 2021 bringing together young people and teachers from the community of Valencia to live an experience that invites them to reflect on the difficulties faced by young people today and the possibility of creating new solutions that can be carried out by young people within each school.
In the workshop participated 31 students and 14 teachers from 11 schools from different municipalities in the Valencia region and from different socio-economic levels. The participating schools were: Pío XII, CAES Santiago Apóstol, CAES N° S° de los Desamparados, Escuelas de San José, Sagrada Familia, José Arnauda, N° S° del Rosario, San Antonio de Padua II, N° S° de la Salud, UCHCEU and D. José Lluch.
Valencia is a port city known for its development of arts and sciences and for being one of the most populated cities in Spain. It is among the main commercial hubs in the Mediterranean sea and has one of the largest immigrant communities in the country.
With this program “I have uncovered a part of me that normally remains hidden in my day-to-day life, in my work, in my routine, in my haste. I have found a space where I can stop time to get to know myself, to get to know other people, to verify, through play, that there are hardly any differences between us, to share who we are in front of a blank canvas, to strip ourselves of prejudices and falsehoods that remain outside that environment, to discover, thanks to dialogue, a new me, fresher, purer, the first essence of our DNA, with which to return to our space with renewed enthusiasm to initiate a new culture of encounter,” said one of the educators.
Through the languages of art, play, and thinking, a participatory approach that stimulates collective reflection was encouraged, giving rise to new forms of storytelling, through which the young participants will set up their own projects to build new realities of mutual understanding and solidarity between people of different cultures and beliefs, helping to build democratic and welcoming communities.
“I have seen how students with social integration difficulties, disciplinary problems, or simply marked by a difficult adolescence, have found here a friendly and alternative meeting place where they have been able to feel at ease, play, express themselves, create and make new friendships,” expressed one of the participants.
At the end of the workshop, participants were encouraged to implement projects within their own educational communities. In this way, we aim to enhance the impact and promote greater capillarity among the beneficiaries of the program.
At this point, two of the schools have implemented projects among their students. Both implemented play, art, and thinking dynamics to create safe spaces of interaction for the students. Other schools have started designing their own proposals to implement in their own communities. We have carried out an online meeting with the teachers to allow them to exchange ideas and experiences regarding their initiatives. This promoted and inspired the other schools to start designing their own projects.