From the 18th to the 22nd of April, I visited the ERES School Project, in Leça da Palmeira - north of Portugal.
And I have to say I came quite close to the ideal school I was looking for!
I met Filipe in Marvão, when I participated in a conference that was being held there at the end of February. I immediately went to talk to him and told him about my project. He was so kind to invite me to visit right away, so we had been exchanging emails for a few weeks when I finally went to witness what I had only heard until then.
There are, of course, no perfect projects. This is something I have been realizing for some time now, and this week showed me that fact again.
Nonetheless, ERES is pretty close to what I envisioned as my "ideal school" simply because of the way they work.
For starters, ERES is not a school, but a Learning Community. They have no tests, no classes and no subjects. They have preschool, and kindergarten on the first floor and the equivalent to 1st until 9th grade on the base floor.
And I have to say I came quite close to the ideal school I was looking for!
I met Filipe in Marvão, when I participated in a conference that was being held there at the end of February. I immediately went to talk to him and told him about my project. He was so kind to invite me to visit right away, so we had been exchanging emails for a few weeks when I finally went to witness what I had only heard until then.
There are, of course, no perfect projects. This is something I have been realizing for some time now, and this week showed me that fact again.
Nonetheless, ERES is pretty close to what I envisioned as my "ideal school" simply because of the way they work.
For starters, ERES is not a school, but a Learning Community. They have no tests, no classes and no subjects. They have preschool, and kindergarten on the first floor and the equivalent to 1st until 9th grade on the base floor.
There are three groups on the base floor, that share the same learning space. The yurts will be a part of the learning space, but as of now they were not completed, so the 13 students were still all using the white room pictured above.
The initiation group at this time has around 6/7 kids. This is the group where the kids start when they come to the school, no matter how old they are. In this group they will learn the basics of how the school works and start to develop their autonomy, with a lot of supervision from the tutor (that they are free to choose at the beginning of the year).
In the "consolidation" group there were about 4 students. This is where the students develop their own projects more independently, without so much supervision from the adults. They can, of course, ask for help which is given to them as soon as there is an adult available.
The "deepening" group, currently without any kids, is the last stage before they leave to secondary school. In this group they go deeper into each topic of work and they are expected to manage their own learning process with minimal supervision.
The initiation group at this time has around 6/7 kids. This is the group where the kids start when they come to the school, no matter how old they are. In this group they will learn the basics of how the school works and start to develop their autonomy, with a lot of supervision from the tutor (that they are free to choose at the beginning of the year).
In the "consolidation" group there were about 4 students. This is where the students develop their own projects more independently, without so much supervision from the adults. They can, of course, ask for help which is given to them as soon as there is an adult available.
The "deepening" group, currently without any kids, is the last stage before they leave to secondary school. In this group they go deeper into each topic of work and they are expected to manage their own learning process with minimal supervision.
All of them, at any time, can use the boards "I need help" or "I can help", to assist each other. All the students learn at their own pace, following their own curiosity and developing their own projects. In each project, that they organize with the help of a tutor, they create a set of questions to which they will look for answers. The tutor is, of course, free to suggest a few more questions and ensure that the subject at hand covers a wide variety of goals from the Ministry's curriculum (which is spread through the walls of the room). |
Let me give you an example: one of the students was doing a research project on Pokemon figures. You might think "what the hell can he learn from action figures that aren't even real animals?". Well, let me tell you, he can learn a lot!
First, one of his questions was "what are the names of the pokemons?" So, in studying that topic, he went over the differences between names, adjectives, verbs, etc.
Secondly, he wanted to know how they reproduce. In order to learn that, he learned not only how the human reproductive system works, but also how different species reproduce, thus getting to know what distinguishes reptiles, mammals, fishes and insects.
Last but not least, when pokemons reproduce, some multiply and others divide themselves. So, you guessed it, he also learned about multiplication and division in the process!
And this is just one of the many many projects they do each year. As an average, each student has about a month to work on their projects. And at the end of it all, the students are welcome to present their findings to their colleagues, but not obliged to.
This is still a private project, which means the parents pay a tuition, but it is linked to the community in a way I have never seen before. The parents that can't pay a full tuition are able to contribute in other ways to the school. They can give tutoring in the afternoons, help with Arts and Crafts workshops, among many other things.
The students are actually signed in to the public school system but instead of going to the public school, they study at ERES as "individual learning" groups. Kind of like homeschooling, but done by teachers, in groups, and in a school-like setting.
This is not the first time I've heard of the concept - Escola da Ponte, in Portugal, and Projeto Âncora, in Brazil, are some of the projects that inspired ERES to be what is is today - but it was the first time I have had the opportunity of seeing it happen right then and there. The team in Projeto Âncora have also invited me to visit them - and I definitely will! - but this year I think most of my visits will focus on Portuguese examples.
First, one of his questions was "what are the names of the pokemons?" So, in studying that topic, he went over the differences between names, adjectives, verbs, etc.
Secondly, he wanted to know how they reproduce. In order to learn that, he learned not only how the human reproductive system works, but also how different species reproduce, thus getting to know what distinguishes reptiles, mammals, fishes and insects.
Last but not least, when pokemons reproduce, some multiply and others divide themselves. So, you guessed it, he also learned about multiplication and division in the process!
And this is just one of the many many projects they do each year. As an average, each student has about a month to work on their projects. And at the end of it all, the students are welcome to present their findings to their colleagues, but not obliged to.
This is still a private project, which means the parents pay a tuition, but it is linked to the community in a way I have never seen before. The parents that can't pay a full tuition are able to contribute in other ways to the school. They can give tutoring in the afternoons, help with Arts and Crafts workshops, among many other things.
The students are actually signed in to the public school system but instead of going to the public school, they study at ERES as "individual learning" groups. Kind of like homeschooling, but done by teachers, in groups, and in a school-like setting.
This is not the first time I've heard of the concept - Escola da Ponte, in Portugal, and Projeto Âncora, in Brazil, are some of the projects that inspired ERES to be what is is today - but it was the first time I have had the opportunity of seeing it happen right then and there. The team in Projeto Âncora have also invited me to visit them - and I definitely will! - but this year I think most of my visits will focus on Portuguese examples.