Legacy of a public education project in the Basque Country: 40 years of pedagogical innovation in pre-school and primary education

Abstract

This article analyses the different guidelines that have allowed a school to transform its educational project and pedagogical organization in order to adapt to the needs and requirements of a society in constant evolution. To this end, document analysis, participant observation and four focus groups have been carried out with various social agents and school representatives who managed to transform their educational project. The results show that involving the entire educational community in the process of change, as well as sharing the vision of what the objectives of the centre should be, and fostering emotional bonds between the different agents of the community, are some of the factors that have made it possible to transform the school project. Moreover, it can be inferred that combining a community with a strong feeling of belonging to the school together with an effort to make this feeling last over time are variables that can transform the pedagogical project of a school into part of the cultural legacy of the community.

Keywords:

• pedagogical innovation
• inclusion
• Professional Learning Communities (PLC)
• Practice-Based Research
• Project-Based Learning (PBL)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2023.2287327

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Eusko Jaurlaritza “Communities of Practice: Transforming Educational Challenges into Opportunities for Learning, Empowerment, and Emancipation” [PIBA_2023_1_0025]; Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa “The Pedagogical Legacy of the Gipuzkoa School” [DGE22/17].

Notes on contributors

Andoni Arguiñano

The authors of the text Arguiñano, A., Karrera, I. and Ormazabal-Arizkorreta, G. are members of the consolidated research group ALHE of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) (ref. GIU22/002). The group is actually engaged in three significant educational projects in the Basque Country, striving to highlight centers that have successfully advanced well-being through pedagogical innovation, empowerment, democratic practices and inclusion. This article has been written in collaboration with Basasoro, M. assistant professor at the University of the Basque Country.

Inaki Karrera

This article is part of two research programs. Firstly, it is associated with the project titled “The Pedagogical Legacy of the Gipuzkoa School” (DGE22/17), which is financed by the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa and Secondly, with the PIBA-PUE project “Communities of Practice: Transforming Educational Challenges into Opportunities for Learning, Empowerment, and Emancipation” (PIBA_2023_1_0025) funded by the Basque Government.ALHE Research Group (GIU22/002) https://www.ehu.eus/es/web/alhe-auzo-lana-hezkuntzan