The Montserrat’s neighbourhood dream: involving Moroccan residents in a school-based community development process in urban Spain

ABSTRACT

Previous research has identified the potential of community-based development processes to reverse inequalities. However, in many cases, constraints arise that hinder the achievement of community goals. This article focuses on the role contributed by a school to overcome these barriers. Specifically, we address the role played by the Mare de Déu de Montserrat School, which is a Learning Community, in the launch and development of a community-based process. Known as The Dream, this process was initiated by a group of unemployed Moroccan residents in an impoverished urban neighbourhood in Spain. Through this process, the neighbours have created a self-managed community garden, which has enabled them to improve their job training and build social networks. Based on the communicative methodology, our qualitative study finds that this school has contributed to the creation of specific conditions that helped to overcome some barriers that had hindered the emergence of community responses. In addition, the contributions of the school have promoted a horizontal and dialogical organization of the process, placing neighbours in central positions in decision-making and leadership roles. This case study provides relevant theoretical and practical implications for the contributions that certain school-based interventions can provide to promote community initiatives in impoverished environments.

ABSTRAIT

Des recherches antérieures ont démontré la capacité des processus de développement communautaire d’inverser les inégalités. Pourtant, dans beaucoup de cas, des contraintes se font jour qui empêchent l’accomplissement d’objectifs communautaires. Cet article se concentre sur le rôle d’une école qui a contribué à surmonter les obstacles. En l’occurrence, il s’agit du rôle joué par l’école Montserrat Mare de Déu, une Communauté Educative, dans le lancement et le développement d’un processus communautaire. Dénommé Le Rêve, ce processus a été initié par un groupe de résidants marocains au chômage dans un quartier urbain défavorisé en Espagne. Tout au long de ce processus, les voisins ont créé un jardin communautaire qu’ils ont géré par eux-mêmes et qui leur a permis d’améliorer leur formation professionnelle et de construire des réseaux sociaux. Reposant sur la méthodologie communicative, notre étude qualitative a trouvé que cette école a contribué à la création de conditions spécifiques qui ont aidé à surmonter certains obstacles qui empêchaient l’émergence de réponses de la communauté. De plus, les contributions de l’école ont favorisé une organisation horizontale et dialogique du processus, qui place les voisins dans des fonctions essentielles de prises de décisions et dans des rôles de direction. Ce cas d’étude fournit des implications théoriques et pratiques pertinentes pour les contributions que certaines interventions scolaires peuvent apporter pour encourager les initiatives communautaires dans des environnements défavorisés.

ABSTRACTO

Investigaciones anteriores han identificado el potencial de los procesos de desarrollo comunitario para revertir desigualdades. Sin embargo, en muchos casos, surgen restricciones que dificultan el logro de los objetivos de la comunidad. Este artículo se centra en el rol desempeñado por una escuela para superar estas barreras. Específicamente, se aborda el rol desempeñado por la escuela Mare de Déu de Montserrat, que es una comunidad de aprendizaje, en el lanzamiento y desarrollo de un proceso comunitario. Conocido como El Sueño, este proceso fue iniciado por un grupo de residentes marroquíes desempleados en un barrio urbano empobrecido en España. A través de este proceso, los vecinos han creado un jardín comunitario autogestionado, lo que les ha permitido mejorar su capacitación laboral y crear redes sociales. Basado en la metodología comunicativa, este estudio cualitativo concluye que esta escuela ha contribuido a la creación de condiciones específicas que ayudaron a superar algunas barreras que obstaculizaban la aparición de respuestas comunitarias. Además, las contribuciones de la escuela han promovido una organización horizontal y dialógica del proceso, colocando a los vecinos en posiciones centrales en la toma de decisiones y roles de liderazgo. Este estudio de caso proporciona implicaciones teóricas y prácticas relevantes para las contribuciones que ciertas intervenciones promovidas desde la escuela pueden proporcionar para promover iniciativas comunitarias en entornos empobrecidos.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban poverty
• community development
• school
• Moroccan immigrants
• urban agriculture
• Spain

MOTS CLÉS:

• pauvreté urbaine
• développement communautaire
• école
• immigrants marocains
• agriculture urbaine
• Espagne

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• pobreza urbana
• desarrollo comunitario
• colegio
• inmigrantes marroquíes
• agricultura urbana
• España

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. SEAs are educational actions that have been shown to promote excellent results in terms of improving educational achievement, coexistence and social cohesion, regardless of students’ characteristics or the contextual features of the school (Flecha & Soler, 2013). These actions are implemented through the joint intervention of the school staff, family members and volunteers, among which are community members, former students and professionals from various areas.

2. The Government of Catalonia considers students with ‘educational needs derived from disadvantaged socio-economic and socio-cultural situations’ those who present learning difficulties caused by the interaction between the child’s personal characteristics and unfavourable characteristics of the educational environment in which they are enrolled.

3. The implementation of the LC project involves initiating a participatory process that involves school staff and family and community members. During this process, a network of university trainers offers training on the SEAs that articulate the project. Furthermore, decision-making spaces are opened in the school for teachers and community members to make joint decisions about how SEAs can be applied to respond to the needs of their context.

4. A promoter group composed of three Moroccan neighbours, the school principal, the Neighbourhood Association president, two researchers, one biologist and two school volunteers was created in 2012 with the aim of launching The Dream.