Takaisin Oeiras Educa+

Purpose: This action has the purpose of raising human rights standards; increasing the literacy  of the students and the school staff on human rights and other issues; contributing to their openness to diversity; promoting citizenship and participation and enhancing intercultural activities in schools.

Stimulus/Rationale: The Municipality of Oeiras acts on the basis that schools need to engage everyone. For the municipality, that means schools which are flexible, open and willing to experiment, which enhance discovery, contact with new realities, enriching experiences and intercultural interaction. It involves encouraging active citizenship, developing social competences with confidence and learning through the daily practice of democratic, critical, supportive, inclusive and responsible citizenship. This is why the Municipality of Oeiras is putting into practice an approach that strengthens the bonds of cooperation between professional educators and family members, spreading the foundations of a culture geared towards participatory education. The municipality aims to use this educational paradigm to generate the best students, the most thoughtful and responsible generation, the most aware and caring citizens. People who will pursue careers in the fields of language, science, philosophy, art, technology, the environment and so on, but with a broader understanding of the world, wider horizons, with all the skills at their fingertips. All this impacts on better human beings, stronger local communities and, in the end, a more resilient society.

Process: In 2022, the Municipality of Oeiras launched the Portal Oeiras Educa+ within the scope of the Municipal Educational Policy (Axis 5 - Connecting schools, families and the community), offering organised training into several thematic areas, simplified online procedures to request support, enrolments in activities and logistical support such as transport. It created a website and a dedicated transport service. The Programme's ambition is to generate connections among Education and other aspects of the city, exploiting the potential and the uniqueness of the territory. With this initiative, Oeiras aims to support the work that teachers do every day in their classrooms. The Municipality has developed this Portal as a direct communication channel between teachers in Oeiras and the local authority, through which they can search for activities and projects available according to the level of education or subject area, as well as ask for resources and available activities, such as workshops and pedagogical activities. The Programme joins non-formal education actors (including theatres, bookshops, parks and libraries, cultural associations and others) and bridges them with education professionals to provide an offer on the several areas: Performing Arts; Visual Arts; Language and Literature; Science and Technology; History and Heritage; Society and Citizenship; Environment and Sustainability; Sport, Health and Well-being. In order to ensure that access to the activities made available on the Portal does not hinder any student in the Municipal School Network, the Municipality is committed to assuming the costs inherent in carrying out the activities made available on the Portal, and the transport booked for this purpose. In order to resolve issues of transport logistics and activity management logistics, Oeiras City Council provides a support team from the Oeiras Educa+ Programme, which can be contacted via the platform when necessary.

Activities such as philosophy trainings on identity, workshop on world dances, workshops on preventing and combatting sexual violence, workshop on gender equality and so on have been delivered thanks to this Portal.

Impact: Until the beginning of 2024, 32 500 students and 1700 education professionals had participated in the project, as well as more that 50 partners: 1355 training sessions were facilitated, half of them used transports by the city, and other 250 exclusive initiatives were run.

This programme gave students and education professionals the chance to have contact with subjects which they may have less access to. As an example, it adds to the quality of life of students in economically and socially disadvantaged situations, living in and out of peripheral and suburban areas that may have less access to this sort of cultural activities, thus enhancing their development and contributing to a fair access to culture.

One example is the Verney Bookstore, within the Division of Libraries and Language Promotion, which develops a project entitled “Philosophy with Children”, working on content related to Society and Citizenship. The “Philosophy with Children” project is an initiative that promotes critical thinking, reflection, and respect for cultural diversity. Inspired by a UNESCO study, the project is based on the idea that children, as thinking beings, have an innate ability to question the world around them. The program fosters the development of active citizenship, empowering students to advocate for their perspectives, understand different viewpoints, and generate ideas through dialogue and active listening. Since 2021, the Philosophy with Children project has conducted 71 sessions, reaching 1 468 students and 126 teachers, from preschool to secondary education, with activities exploring themes such as justice, freedom, ethics, and identity. Furthermore, in 2022/2023, the project launched two training courses for teachers in Oeiras, promoting the skills of "thinking, being, and respecting differences”.

Oeiras Educa+ program plays a significant role in promoting interculturalism and citizenship by carrying out activities that encourage understanding and respect for different cultures and ways of life. The humanistic approach of the project aims to awaken in children the ability to question the world around them and value diversity as a richness, promoting philosophical thinking and the awareness that reflection is an essential act in building responsible and ethical citizenship.

Key reference documents:  

Website https://www.oeiraseduca.pt/

Leaflet https://www.oeiraseduca.pt/media/2000/oeiraseducaplus.pdf

Diversity-related activities:

https://www.oeiraseduca.pt/

https://www.oeiraseduca.pt/action/2040

From 2022 until today
  • Diminuer la taille du texte
  • Augmenter la taille du texte
  • Imprimer la page