Through the project Convivència i Mediació (Co-existence and Mediation) the City of Barcelona has reorganised its school teaching service to strengthen the values that ensure coexistence in a context of cultural diversity. The new reality makes schools work to promote the values of respect for diversity through knowledge and dialogue, emphasising common and shared attributes.
It has constituted a working committee with leading figures and experts from the educational sector in order to introduce interculturality as a mainstream element of the curriculum, working from a diagnosis of that which is already being done. For example:
- Drawing up a map of educational resources for Interculturality, systemising all those that already exist in Barcelona promoted by administrations, entities, immigrant associations, NGOs, etc.
Teachers are being trained in intercultural education and knowledge of the socialising processes that minority children experienced in their countries of origin.
The learning of first languages is framed within a framework of multilingualism and reciprocity with regard to Catalan language learning. The importance of the environment and the involvement of families and all social agents in the educational process In the process to become a citizen, apart from at school, children and families participate in social networks that enable them to associate with society.
Schools encourage the involvement of families in the educational process of their children, opening spaces for meetings between families, entities and the school. For example:
- Schools promote training spaces for parents so that they can access information on the educational system and join the Parent Teacher Association to facilitate their involvement in their children’s educational process.
- Taking advantage of the reception activities in the family regrouping guidance programme to put them into contact with families that regroup children of school age, in order to be able to better programme and facilitate the schooling process.
They are also strengthening policies that open up the school to the neighbourhood and make it a place for meeting and coexistence, for example:
- Within the framework of the programme of New Social Uses of Time, promoting the Programa de Patis Oberts (Open Playgrounds Programme) at schools during the weekends for all residents in the neighbourhood as a meeting place.
An important factor is changing the make-up of the teaching staff. This includes facilitating the official recognition of academic qualifications from other countries through collaboration with the Agència d’Homologació de Títols (Agency for the Recognition of Qualifications) that has been launched by the Government of Catalonia. It als involves formulating training entrance exams for work integration training programmes through the recognition of abilities rather than just the knowledge that a specific school education may signify.
The Educational Consortium has taken measures to ensure all the schools from the same educational zone teach about the neighbourhood’s socio-cultural diversity in the same way, as provided for in the LEC (Law on Education).
Other initiatives taken have included:
- Strengthening and adapting the running of reception classrooms, guaranteeing a link with the ordinary classroom, and maintaining the model of temporary reception classrooms for children older than 14 years who are incorporated into the educational system from the third term onwards.
- Strengthening school support programmes with tutorials between equals and assisted study, where the adults of reference are individuals who have immigrated, so that successful role models are created for the newly-arrived pupils.
- Encouraging the continuity of post-compulsory studies and facilitating the transition from school to work.
- Strengthening the programmes of orientation and guidance that take into account the different socio-cultural contexts of the students. With regard to artistic education, use compensatory policies to ensure a progressive incorporation of students of immigrant origin into artistic training activities so that they enjoy the same opportunities of integral training as native children.
