The visit started bright and early in the morning.
At 4h45 in the morning, there I was, together with around 40 people, boarding a bus that would take us to São Tomé de Negrelos, close to the beautiful city of Porto.
But htis was not a sightseeing tour. This was more of a field trip, where we would get to see the one and only Escola da Ponte.
This school earned its fame in Portugal because 40 years ago, José Pacheco and a team of two other colleagues set out to do the unthinkable: change the way we teach our children. Step by step - some much harder than others - they managed to create a new school inside of the old system. And they got the Ministry of Education to accept it and give them the autonomy they needed, to do things differently. And a big part of this fight was also made by the parents, who protested and defended the school, when it faced closure.
In theory, what makes this school different from all the others is the way the students work and organize themselves. There are no classes, there are no subjects and the students all work together, no matter their age difference in bright big rooms. Their work is based on projects, where they get to go through all the subjects, without differentiating them. There is true interdisciplinary learning and each student is responsible for himself and his colleagues. All of them are responsible for themselves, and those around them.
Students have a tutor, who helps them organize their study plan and keep track of their progress and struggles, and everyone can always ask for help, not only to teachers who are available on the demand, but also to their peers who sit next to them in the room.
They have, of course, lots of tools to help them organize their learning and to keep track of their work, but unfortunately I was not able to take any photos during the visit. A policy I understand and respect, but that makes it difficult to showcase their originality...
There is a lot to be said about Escola da Ponte. It is hardly describable in just a few words.
Nonetheless, what I heard and studied about this school is, unfortunately, not what happens nowadays in its grounds. Not in full at least. And this is not because of the school itself - I could see the teachers were just as frustrated about this as one would imagine - but because the Ministry of Education has been given less and less autonomy to the school to manage itself.
For example, the way teachers are hired changed dramatically. In a school that thinks differently, the profile of the teacher has to follow. This means that the school has to be the one deciding who is the right person for the job. And this is how it was done for a few years... But nowadays the Ministry appoints which teachers will be placed in this school - as in all other public schools in the country - without any regard to their profile, experience or curriculum. The selection of teachers to school is based solely on years of service, geographical location (when it is!) and an algorithm that no one - I would risk not even the Ministry it self - understands...
And this is just one of the many negative influences the Ministry has had in this school over the past few years. Students are not all together anymore, in turn they sit together by age group in smaller rooms and work on their projects (this at least stayed as it was intended!).
The two main positive aspects I took from this very short visit were these: 1) I saw happy students strolling around the school grounds and talking to everyone as if they were one big family; 2) the lockers for the students to keep their materials and their knick-knacks had no locks or keys. Everyone trusts each other and nothing goes missing. Because as José Pacheco says, when everything belongs to everyone, you don't steal what's already yours.
This is definitely a school I want to visit again, with more time, because I am sure there is way more positive aspects to be taken from here, than just these two! For now, I am preparing the next visit - to Agrupamento de Escolas de Carcavelos.
At 4h45 in the morning, there I was, together with around 40 people, boarding a bus that would take us to São Tomé de Negrelos, close to the beautiful city of Porto.
But htis was not a sightseeing tour. This was more of a field trip, where we would get to see the one and only Escola da Ponte.
This school earned its fame in Portugal because 40 years ago, José Pacheco and a team of two other colleagues set out to do the unthinkable: change the way we teach our children. Step by step - some much harder than others - they managed to create a new school inside of the old system. And they got the Ministry of Education to accept it and give them the autonomy they needed, to do things differently. And a big part of this fight was also made by the parents, who protested and defended the school, when it faced closure.
In theory, what makes this school different from all the others is the way the students work and organize themselves. There are no classes, there are no subjects and the students all work together, no matter their age difference in bright big rooms. Their work is based on projects, where they get to go through all the subjects, without differentiating them. There is true interdisciplinary learning and each student is responsible for himself and his colleagues. All of them are responsible for themselves, and those around them.
Students have a tutor, who helps them organize their study plan and keep track of their progress and struggles, and everyone can always ask for help, not only to teachers who are available on the demand, but also to their peers who sit next to them in the room.
They have, of course, lots of tools to help them organize their learning and to keep track of their work, but unfortunately I was not able to take any photos during the visit. A policy I understand and respect, but that makes it difficult to showcase their originality...
There is a lot to be said about Escola da Ponte. It is hardly describable in just a few words.
Nonetheless, what I heard and studied about this school is, unfortunately, not what happens nowadays in its grounds. Not in full at least. And this is not because of the school itself - I could see the teachers were just as frustrated about this as one would imagine - but because the Ministry of Education has been given less and less autonomy to the school to manage itself.
For example, the way teachers are hired changed dramatically. In a school that thinks differently, the profile of the teacher has to follow. This means that the school has to be the one deciding who is the right person for the job. And this is how it was done for a few years... But nowadays the Ministry appoints which teachers will be placed in this school - as in all other public schools in the country - without any regard to their profile, experience or curriculum. The selection of teachers to school is based solely on years of service, geographical location (when it is!) and an algorithm that no one - I would risk not even the Ministry it self - understands...
And this is just one of the many negative influences the Ministry has had in this school over the past few years. Students are not all together anymore, in turn they sit together by age group in smaller rooms and work on their projects (this at least stayed as it was intended!).
The two main positive aspects I took from this very short visit were these: 1) I saw happy students strolling around the school grounds and talking to everyone as if they were one big family; 2) the lockers for the students to keep their materials and their knick-knacks had no locks or keys. Everyone trusts each other and nothing goes missing. Because as José Pacheco says, when everything belongs to everyone, you don't steal what's already yours.
This is definitely a school I want to visit again, with more time, because I am sure there is way more positive aspects to be taken from here, than just these two! For now, I am preparing the next visit - to Agrupamento de Escolas de Carcavelos.