A conference was held in Eskoriatza to improve transition processes in schools
A conference was held in Eskoriatza to improve transition processes in schools
A conference was held in Eskoriatza to improve transition processes in schools
On September 5, Mondragon University’s Eskoriatza campus hosted a conference organized in conjunction with Goieskola, the public school association of Debagoiena.
On September 5, in Eskoriatza, the Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences of Mondragon University, together with the public schools of Oñati and Bergara of Goieskola, held a conference entitled Transitions toward a participatory culture and community development (in the original Basque: Igarobideak parte-hartze kultura eta garapen komunitarioaren norabidean). The project was carried out thanks to funding from the Gipuzkoa eraikiz program of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa.
Transition processes are those moments in which situations of change or transition from one phase to another arise. Some of the transition processes that arise in schools are limited to specific moments, such as stage changes, for example, while others are continuous and more general in nature. As Mondragon University Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences researcher Irati Sagardia commented in her presentation, “regarding transitions, we have been analyzing and researching specific moments, but we now believe that we should understand transitions as a complex and continuous process.”
Transitions have a major impact on the lives of school-age children and their families due to the biopsychosocial changes that occur in such processes. As explained in the conference, two years ago, the Zehar and Hazitegi research groups of Mondragon University, together with the public schools of Bergara and Oñati, launched the Guztion ahotsa participatory process under the conviction that schools did not grant sufficient importance to transitions, and with the intention of improving those transitions and analyzing the inclusive school in detail. Some of the conclusions drawn from this project were presented at the conference.
The San Martin School and the Ipintza Institute of Bergara and the Urgain School of Oñati (Errekalde School and Zuazola Institute) participated in the Guztion ahotsa project. As the representatives from these centers explained, during the first academic year, taking into account the voices of all the agents who comprise the school community, they worked on how moments of transition are experienced: main characteristics, weaknesses, fears that arise during such processes, needs that arise, etc. Once this first analysis had been carried out, they designed a plan of action to improve those processes. During the second academic year, they had the opportunity to implement the plan of action and evaluate it, proposing improvements and making the necessary adjustments.
In the public school in Bergara, for example, they worked especially hard on the transition between stages and cycles. The director of San Martín School, Joxerra Lasa, commented that doubts arise primarily during the transition from the final year of primary school to Mandatory Secondary Education. In his presentation, he explained the actions they have taken to resolve those doubts. Among other activities, for example, they visit the school, discuss the next stage over a snack, play group bonding games at the beginning of the school year as in the preceding year, and do activities with the students in the class above them. San Martín Primary Education tutor Garaine Baleztena explained that the new tutors develop activities with the children they’ll have the next year in order to improve those transition processes.
The representatives from the Urgain School in Oñati also shared their experiences in improving transition processes. As Maider Rivera explained, “before, we worked on the transitions from Early Childhood Education to Primary and from the final year of Primary Education to Mandatory Secondary Education; today, however, we work on the transitions between all the years.” Rivera pointed out that the Guztion ahotsa project allowed them to systematize those processes, so they were able to replicate them in subsequent years. Looking to the future, the members of the Urgain school have identified various challenges, among which Rivera notes the need to mix groups of students, as well as the need for new communication channels with families.