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2020-2021 Restarting education

All persons and institutions interested in education, and in a special way the Pious Schools, have welcomed with interest and commitment the call of Pope Francis to “rebuild the global educational pact”. It is a strong and clear call that calls us not only to renew our commitment to education, but to a shared dynamic of work for education as an instrument of social change, bringing with it a different world that can and must be built by all.

It is an “invitation to dialogue on how we are building the future of the planet and on the need to invest the talents of all, because every change requires an educational path that will bring to maturity a new universal solidarity and a more welcoming society. “To revive the commitment for and with the young generations, renewing the passion for a more open and inclusive education, capable of patient listening, constructive dialogue and mutual understanding”.

It is an invitation to take care of the fragility of people and of the world in which we live.

Education and training become priorities, because they help to be direct protagonists and co-constructors of the common good and peace.

As a starting point, the Pope thinks that we must “rebuild” the education pact, because there are important fractures that we must recognize and confront, especially three:

  1. Between the person and God
  2. Of human relationships in their diversity (the relationship with those who are different from me)
  3. Of the person with the nature.

These three fractures can only be overcome through education. That is why a global pact is needed to address them and to enable us to fight for a different world.

We need a concept of education that embraces the wide range of life experiences and learning processes and allows young people to develop their personalities individually and collectively. Education does not end in the classrooms of schools or universities, but is affirmed primarily by respecting and strengthening the primary right of the family to educate, and the right of the Churches and social entities to support and collaborate with families in the education of their children” (Address to members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See on the occasion of New Year’s greetings, 9 January 2020).

“It is time to look ahead with courage and hope. Let us be sustained by the conviction that in education lies the seed of hope: a hope for peace and justice. A hope of beauty, of goodness; a hope of social harmony”.

To achieve these global objectives, the Pope indicates three important steps to be taken on the common path of the “education village”:

  • Firstly, “courage to put the person at the centre”. This requires the signing of a pact to encourage formal and informal educational processes, which cannot ignore the fact that everything in the world is intimately connected and that other ways of understanding the economy, politics, growth and progress need to be found – based on a sound anthropology”.
  • Another step is the courage to invest the best energies with creativity and responsibility. Proactive and confident action opens up education to long-term planning, which does not stop at the static conditions. In this way we will have people who are open, responsible, available to find time for listening, dialogue and reflection, and capable of building a fabric of relationships with families, between generations, and with the various expressions of civil society, so that a new humanism is composed.
  • And finally, to have the “courage to form people who are available to serve the community,” because “service is a pillar of the culture of encounter,” and “as Jesus was inclined to wash the feet of the apostles,” to work “alongside the most needy.

Pillars of the new educational model

During his speech, Francisco made seven proposals to make a new educational model a reality.

  1. Putting the person at the centre of the whole
  2. to the voice of children/youth
  3. Promoting full participation of girls and young women
  4. To have the family as the first and indispensable educator-tutor of families
  5. Educate and educate us to welcome, opening us up to the most vulnerable
  6. To commit ourselves to study in order to find other ways of understanding the economy, politics, growth and progress so that they may be at the service of man and the whole human family
  7. Take care of the common house. In the encyclical Laudato sí’, Pope Francis reminds us that “Education will be ineffective and its efforts will be sterile if it does not also seek to spread a new paradigm about the human being, life, society and the relationship with nature”.

Peace and Human Rights Week Methodology

Use the “design for change” methodology:

Step 1: feel (Raising awareness from experience)
Step 2: Imagining (reflective, imagining a new world, cooperative style)
Step 3: act (choice of the best proposal)
Step 4: Evolve (evolve and evaluate. Critical thinking)
Step 5: Sharing (through social networks, web…)

Outline of activities 

  1. Calasanz’s central sentence
  2. Part I: Introduction
  3. Part II: Dynamics
  4. Part III: reflection What can I do? How can I bring peace?

 

 

Note: When designing activities, bear in mind that they may have to be carried out in a confined situation. Therefore, the activities we design should be able to be carried out either in a face-to-face or online mode.