December 2011

 

CLAYSS IN ItalY

Interdisciplinary Meeting in Castelgandolfo, Rome: over 120 specialists from multiple scientific disciplines from all over the world gathered to share a rich exchange of perspectives on the thoughts of Chiara Lubich (1920-2005, UNESCO Prize for Peace Education). Nieves participated in the Pedagogy workgroups, with other specialists from Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, United States, Brazil and Argentina. They have already begun writing a collective text.

Service-Learning promotion in the Province of Trento: having been invited by the Teacher Education Center of this autonomous province, Nieves participated in multiple activities aimed to promote the proposal of service-learning. She met with schools with a long tradition in service, some of which had already been developing projects which could be considered service-learning. The main activities conducted were:

- Conference for Authorities: (November 9-10) As part of their authorities development courses, the Teacher Education Center has organized since 2010 a series of thematic Conferences, all taking place in Terme di Comano. On its fourth edition, this meeting focused on “the learning cultures” and had over one hundred participants from schools in all levels. The Conference was conducted by Dr. Erik De Corte, from the University of Lovaina, who offered a lecture on learning theories and frameworks; and by Prof. Nieves Tapia (CLAYSS), who presented the pedagogy of service-learning. On the second day the Conference focused on group workshops, in which the authorities reflected upon the multiple strategies available to make ‘transitions’ to service-learning or optimize the practices already being developed.

- Meetings with education authorities: on November 11th, Nieves was invited to the province’s governmental headquarters in the City of Trento. There she had two very productive meetings. First with Marta Dalmaso, a member of parliament in charge of education policies, where Nieves discussed future plans for possible collaborations to promote service-learning in the province. Next, Nieves met with a small group of municipal Education advisors, who were very interested in the possibility of collaborating between schools and the municipality through service-learning projects.

- Workshop for teachers:onthat same afternoon,onNovember 11th, the Teacher Education Center organized a workshop for teachers in the city of Rovereto. The workshop was called “Give purpose to learning. The proposal of service-learning.” The intense workshop begun with a speech by Nieves, followed by a panel with speakers Prof. Michele de Beni (University of Venice) and Prof. Piero Bosello (Catholic University of Milan), who shared their views on cognitive development and citizenship education. Afterwards the participants were introduced to a series of projects being developed in Trentino, all related to Cooperative Education, Citizen Engagement and Education for Peace, with commentary from Prof. Italo Fiorin (President of the Academic Committee of the Teacher Education Center) and Prof. Nieves Tapia.