Before reading this post, you should ask yourselves if the school is the only educational space. The answer is no, the city can also be recognized as an important educational agent.
Also,
you should ask yourselves if the city you’re living in is educating
kids, and if activities are adapted to them and they are enough. Surely
your city is not prepared to carry out educational activities, for
example, the spaces that exist for children's education are not well
distributed.
EDUCATING CITIES:
The
educating cities are developed as an educational space. On the one
hand, the school assumes educational functions that the society
required. On the other hand, the entire city also has educational
functions.
THE CITY OF CHILDREN:
This
project was born in the city of Fano, Italy, in 1991. Children are the
protagonists and it looks for spaces in cities where they can be
independent. It means that children become adults giving them more
autonomy and participation in everyday life.
The creator was Francesco Tonucci, who is the author of numerous books about the role of children in the urban ecosystem.
His
research focuses on the cognitive development of children and
educational methodology. In 1991 he did the project of “City of
children” in his hometown, it was a city that point of reference is the
children. The project was very successful and it spread to different
parts of the world.
More than 200 cities around the world are carrying out this project in their territories. The CEIP Fermín Bouza Brey, in the township of Ponteareas, can be noted in Galicia.
Also,
we can talk about some experiences in Spain, for instance, the open
schoolyards in Barcelona. This project consists in that the schoolyard
is an open space to be used by families, children and teenagers in their
weekends and in their holidays to give an alternative to entertainment.
Every schoolyard will have a service of monitors to do sports
activities, artistic activities and family, these are free.
In Ourense, we will talk about “The School Road”, a safe way. Children will walk to school to promote physical exercise that it means to use the best way of transportation. This project has signals at the meeting points, so the children can go to school safely.
In this city, we also find the intergenerational educational garden in
Mariñamansa in which children and Orense´s people have their own garden
in which promotes contact with elderly people and, in this way, they
protect the environment.
Here you have the video in Spanish about “The school road” !!
It is important, as future teachers, to know these
experiences because it is a lifelong learning and a comprehensive
education, which teaches children values such as respect, tolerance,
participation, accountability and the public interest. We must also know
the experiences of an educating city we have in our city.
After
reading this post we ask the following question: What changes would
you do to expand the educational potential of your city?
We recommend you see these links:
http://www.lacittadeibambini.org/inglese/interna.htm
