Saudade; an inclusive, relationship, learning, cross-generational space located in Majorca
Saudade is, at heart, a project of relationships with the environment and human relationships, enabling as deep a process of connection as can be established. It includes the creation of an Inclusive Pre-Primary and Primary School; the School of Experience for elderly people, and the creation of a public Library, as a cross-generational meeting point, thus favouring the establishment of inclusive societies.
Local
Spain
Sa Cabaneta. Marratxí. Majorca. Spain
Mainly rural
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
Yes
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Fundación Centro Crea-t Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Mónica Last name of representative: Martínez Sampietro Gender: Female Nationality: Spain Function: President Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Elcano 2 bajos Town: Palma de Mallorca Postal code: 07014 Country: Spain Direct Tel:+34 638 04 19 83 E-mail:fundacion@centrocrea-t.es Website:http://www.centrocrea-t.es
URL:https://www.facebook.com/FundCCT/ Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #inclusion #somosfundacioncentrocreat #psicomotricidad #sacabaneta #marratxi
URL:https://mobile.twitter.com/crea_fundacion Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #inclusion #somosfundacioncentrocreat #psicomotricidad #sacabaneta #marratxi
On May, 2018, Fundación Centro Crea-t, a non-profit, public benefit foundation, was created with the purpose of promoting comprehensive personal development in educational, healthcare and social environments, prioritizing inclusiveness of human beings in their differences. It is a project born from the initiative of the founders of the Crea_t Centro de Psicomotricidad (2007), built on 25 years of experience in the field of psychomotricity and 16 years as a center.
Saudade is a project with the community and for the community. It includes us all, both from an individual and a social perspective. It is based on listening, on respect, on the acceptance of others just as they are, encompassing every stage in a person’s life: childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and senior years.
The specific actions are:
1. Creation of Saudade, a licenced, autonomous, inclusive school, based on lived experience and open to the environment.
Based on lived experience because the world needs to be explored through the senses, in connection with the reality around us; we need to experience in order to learn.
In connection with nature because Earth is our living, sheltering, caring space, and we feel it as a living organism, a self-regulating being.
Inclusive because the goal is to create a school where we can learn together; learn to live with difference and learn from difference, with no exceptions. A school designed for all students.
2. Creation of the School of Experience, for older adults.
A quality space for the elderly, based on Psychomotricity methodology, which doubles as a place for exchange and contact with children and families, where they feel like an active part of the community.
3. Creation of a Public Library, a meeting space for the whole Community.
Then, we are talking about a Community, about opening up shared spaces of respect and cross-generational connection.
Inclusion
Psychomotricity
Community
Nature
Relationships
There are two main objectives in terms of sustainability: on the one hand, the conservation of local heritage and culture; on the other hand, the use of new insulation and conditioning methods in the property.
Our principles reflect the need to care for our surroundings, from the point of view of the environment, but also of heritage and the care for the people around us.
This is why we present the sustainable renovation of this property, which dates back to the early 19th century and is to become the headquarters of out project, keeping the following original elements:
1. Reusing the original Arab tiles on the roof, substituting when needed with locally-sourced tiles.
2. Renovation and conservation of sound wooden beams
3. Uncovering and conserving two marès sandstone arches in two main rooms
4. Natural cork flooring for better transpiration and insulation in the house
5. Keeping the original structure, with no size or position alterations to any window and virtually any door
6. Renovation and conservation of the original Majorcan shutters
7. Renovation and conservation of the wooden profiles in the main staircase
8. Recovery and conservation of the original clay tiles and hydraulic tiles, as well as the rough-hewn stone sinks
9. Reusing lime and clay mortar to plaster exposed walls
10. Renovation and conservation of original doors and windows, whenever they are sound
11. Collecting rainwater to use for garden irrigation and filling bathroom cisterns
12. Designing the garden in keeping with the principles of Permaculture
To carry out these tasks we have hired Jordi Ribas — master artisan carpenter —, Macià Vives — for the job of uncovering the stone arches — and a bio-construction builder, to apply the lime mortar.
As far as the use of new climate and energy saving systems is concerned:
1. Installation of solar cell panels
2. Installation of an aerothermal air-conditioning system
3. Insulating/enclosing the house for better energy efficiency
Caring for the environment and for people are two fundamental tenets in our project, in line with our goals as an organization.
As far as the environment is concerned, the sustainable renovation of the house conserves and treasures the original details, taking into account the role it is meant to play as a school and a Library. We preserve the beauty and heritage of the building so that it can become an important element facilitating the learning environment. We have set to create an inclusive design in terms of the general project and the layout of spaces (which are wide and regular), the materials in use (over 100 year-old restored wood, cushions, plants), soft colours (off white) and earth-coloured flooring, and natural lighting.
As far as caring for people is concerned, this project stands on two pillars:
- Caring for the mental and emotional health of our users (children, teenagers or adults), with a view to achieve personal well-being (personalized assistance) through an approach to psychomotricity based on lived experience.
- Building inclusive communities; inclusive cultures, policies, and practices, taking into account everyone’s participation, knowledge and live experience. It is essential to rely on the entire citizenship and to achieve social cohesion.
The Library is an excellent, cross-generational meeting point. Just like the School of Experience is a generator of higher life expectancy, allowing the elderly to maintain their responsibilities while providing their invaluable experience to the Community and the environment. Just like the pre-primary and primary school, where we learn from what we observe and experience.
This is a holistic approach having to do with cognition, emotion, and the physical body. We propose a new model which assists the person in their path to full development, based on the observation that, since the beginning of life until the very moment where we cease to belong to it, we need to be there and be ourselves.
Any action carried out by the FCCT must observe the principle of inclusion: presence of the person, participation, a voice and a say, and personal achievements in terms of autonomy and learning. Inclusion is a fundamental vector in order to personalise, catering for personal interests and wishes, ceding the initiative in the learning process, while respecting all human beings such as they are. We understand inclusion as a life opportunity, where ALL people matter, with no exceptions for reasons of disability, condition, or difficulty.
We build on 25 years of experience in the field of Psychomotricity. We base our work on a lived-experience methodology (hands, heart, and mind), drawing from psychomotricity as a fundamental tool in human relationships. We consider that playing is a catalyst for deep emotional connection and, thus, learning; contact with nature and, finally, the use of technology at the service of people and their needs.
This allows us to focus on achieving such settings, when it comes to both designing the building and bringing projects to fruition. We do not contemplate any action which is not accessible and framed by the principles of universal design.
We propose two fields which enable the implementation of inclusion:
- At an educational level: creation of Saudade, an inclusive school which works taking into account relationships as a main axis, with personalised learning plans, in connection with nature and a methodology based on lived experience. It is an educational space which promotes togetherness, where people learn to be, to know, to feel, and to do in co-operation. We build a place where people will wish to go, hence the name Saudade: a place meant to discover and build the world, within a community.
- At a social level: the creation of the School of Experience, for the elderly, and a public Library as a meeting point for everyone. Both spaces are inclusive and conducive to cross-generational coexistence.
Investment in the person is our priority. In fact, all actions focus on assistance to people, having an evident effect on both direct and indirect beneficiaries (family, inhabitants, community ...). All actions will be open to the Sa Cabaneta Community and the municipality of Marratxí.
All actions require the direct participation of every person; otherwise, it is not possible to carry out any of the actions proposed in the project.
Regarding Saudade School, it will be necessary to put into play methodological proposals and organizational models that allow the participation and progress of all students. We encourage students to be the leading role of their learning, with opportunities to choose and decide. To achieve this, we emphasize the need for personalized teaching, active classroom practices (Universal Design of Learning), training of the professional team and conception of open and flexible spaces. At this moment, we have a group of 7 children from pre-primary and primary, who will be the first Saudade groups. It is the third year of learning together (see attached images).The School of Experience offers two actions that are connected to each other, that will be operating simultaneously over 12 months. On the one hand, the Psychomotricity sessions since 2019. As a second action, the Creative Education Workshop from Painting, a cross-generational space for painting, personal development, encourages creativity, the unique coexistence between adults and children, since 2020 (see attached images).And finally, the opening of the Library to the whole Community in Sa Cabaneta, as a meeting point for everyone where the elderly share their life experience, especially with children and young people, with the possibility of volunteering.
Therefore, all actions are based on the construction of building inclusive societies, with an opening towards the Community that implies a direct impact on the social environment where we are involved.
It is a project born from the initiative of the founders of the Crea_t Centro de Psicomotricidad (2007), built on 25 years of experience in the field of psychomotricity and 16 years as a center.
Over these years, the project has grown in support and co-operations. First, the Council of Marratxí, which has promised to cede us a municipally-owned space. (See attached document.)
Secondly, we are grateful to have the support of Green & Human, a non-profit, co-operative association created by a network of companies willing to promote a sustainable tourism model. This foundation has been a driving force and an associate for this initiative. They provide accessibility and care for people with functional limitations in different touristic destinations.
We can also count on the support of several local companies willing to go a step further in matters of social responsibility: Borrás Sabater SL, providers of construction materials; Crea_t Centro de Psicomotricidad, that is allowing us the use of their infrastructure since 2019 up until we move, Sinium Village CB, a local real estate agency and La Escuela Artesana, an arts and traditional crafts school that works with local artisans (see URL link above).
Mention must be made of the support offered by individual friends and donors of the foundation (children, teenagers and adults of all ages). These make up a total of 25 people supporting the projects of the foundation, providing steady backing and economic support.
Technology has also allowed us to enjoy the support of the “Committed Youngsters” group: teenagers and young people from all over the world who encourage us and co-operate in the work we carry out.
Lastly, we wish to highlight the support provided by Fundació La Caixa since 2019. They have contributed to the project since the beginning. (See agreement dated 2023).
Our work draws from four interconnected fields that enrich one another:
- Lived-experience Psychomotricity as an integrating discipline enabling the opening of new capabilities, having to do with hearing, vision, relationships, movement… and an investment in mental health
- Contact with nature as a tool regulating human beings and learning
- Learning as empowerment at four levels: physical, emotional, social, and cognitive aspects.
- Human relationships, with no distinctions by age, need, or disability (inclusion)
Psychomotricity is a body practice which, through movement, favours the global development of a person, facilitating expression, relation, communication, and creation.
As regards the school and the work with children, Psychomotricity vindicates the role of the body from an integrating standpoint. The objective is integral development, taking the spontaneity of the children as a starting point. The teacher should be carefully listening to their wishes and motivations in order to provide them with the necessary elements to lead them to discovery, manipulation, the research of everything around them.
In the case of the work with elderly people, Psychomotricity aims at promoting physical, psychic, and social well-being, encouraging autonomy and body expression with a view to improving our self-conception and our relationships. We all have capabilities to share, and we go on relating to each other as long as we are alive.
Secondly, We need to contextualize knowledge and approach learning as a lived experience in real environments, in accordance with the inborn connection we human beings have with nature.
Finally, we pay attention to especially relevant groups, with specific needs: disabled people, people at risk, and the elderly. This, in turn, involves a corresponding attention to spaces, in order to ensure accessibility, mobility and real inclusion. Human relations are our foremost concern.
Our entire project is predicated on two axes: lived-experience practice based on experimentation and sensation; and Psychomotricity as a personal work tool. The pre-primary and primary School, the School of Experience, and the Library are related and interconnected. They mean a recovery of the very essence of being human, contact among members of the Community and learning from nature.
Innovations common to all three actions include the following:
- Inclusion of the human being in their differences. For all of them, with no exceptions.
- Acknowledging and respecting human diversity in all its manifestations.
- Renovated spaces under the guiding principle of sustainability. Spaces meant to be humanising, simple and full of possibilities for any moment in a person’s life: children, teenagers, adults, and the elderly.
- Actions related to coexistence, community and cross-generational learning.
- Active listening, interest, observation
- Understanding and being mindful of all evolutive ages being worked with
- Body work informed by personal, family, environmental, and cultural context
- Observation of the natural process of life, both in men and in nature itself
Regarding the learning system for children, we wish to point out the following innovations:
- Inclusive education as a human right; a legal, moral, and ethical commitment
- Observation of children from the standpoint of their capabilities, and not the competences we think they have.
- We are companions in the learning process by observing the evolution of children, and not from a predetermined program
- The children’s learning is integral because it derives from their own wish, their own motivation to investigate, question and discover
- Learning happens not only from the cognitive standpoint, but also at the physical, emotional, and social levels
- The teacher is prepared and available to listen to the child’s wish, whatever it is
It is, to sum up, a systemic and holistic project.
Every action described above can be replicated at other locales. As a matter of fact, our intention is that inclusion be present in all fields, specially in educational contexts. It is a human right and, as such, institutions, public and private bodies, and the general citizenship have the duty of providing the necessary spaces to welcome every member of our society.
The fundamental requirement, if we are to transfer the project elsewhere, is to keep Psychomotricity as the working axis, providing assistance always within small groups of all ages, and keeping a team of professionals that are trained in active listening; psychomotricists ready to constantly supervise their interventions and performance as companions.
Our every action is based on one and the same methodology: active listening and participation. Starting with our work dynamic, which is open, flexible and creative, we generate an inclusive methodology which encourages body movement and allows to cater for both individual and collective needs, prioritising personal process.
Through active listening and observation we encourage availability for the intra- and inter-personal process towards the achievement of genuine, original, and creative results; without judgement and comparisons. Our actions allow for unlimited learning. Psychomotricity, in particular, allows offering the companionship which is individually needed by every person in their development process. Our methodology is live-experience and relationship based.
It is worth pointing out that none of our activities are directed. No game is planned: we offer the resources to enable it and it just occurs. From that starting point, participants bond — they listen to, understand and feel one another. The Psychomotricity or assistant is in charge of being their companion throughout this process, while carrying out interventions so that emotions can flow, but always from a place of respect and listening to the others’ wishes.
Both the Pre-primary and Primary School and the School of Experience offer deep work at an emotional level, given that they have the Psychomotricity room as their point of departure. The immediate outcome is a connection with oneself, an integrated learning from each person’s capabilities and feeling of belonging to the Community. We know that emotions are the first and foremost foundation on which all learning and memory processes are based; Psychomotricity and nature – those are the two tools to achieve that.
We are committed to the idea of learning as something happening at all ages in a person’s life, both for our users and our professionals. It also entails constant revision of the work done and collaborative teamwork.
Project Saudade will be implemented at Sa Cabaneta, a municipality in Marratxí (Majorca, Spain). It is a rural enclave (contact with nature) with a surface of 54.18 square kilometres and a population of 38,357 people. Sa Cabaneta is the second most populated town with 9,309 inhabitants. It is an excellent spot to locate the project, since it is virtually devoid of services despite its population. There is neither a school, nor a public library or sports facilities. The main benefit for the municipality of Marratxí lies in the possibilities for personal and social transformation though the implementation of a pioneering proposal coming from an understanding of Psychomotricity based on lived experience. Another advantage will be the participation in cross-generational activities promoting values such as communitarian action and mutual aid.
SDGs 3, 4, 5, 9 and 10 have a presence in all our actions. Inclusion is the main axis, as a process generating an inclusive community. First, from a quality educational setting through the pre-primary and primary school; then, in the School of Experience, offering equality of opportunity, active aging, autonomy, and personal work; and finally, at the Library, as a meeting point for the Community. We are likewise committed to the sustainable renovation of the building, together with universal accessibility, reinforcing inclusion, here in relation to the environment. We pay special attention to the mental health of all our users (SDG 3).
To sum up, the project will generate a strong social high-quality impact in the area and also in Majorca, since it will be the first officially-approved inclusive Pre-Primary and Primary Educational Centre there. The proposals we put forward entail an investment in health and and well-being, in the recovery of the essence of human beings: spaces that are not overcrowded, mutual contact with no exceptions and companionship and assistance in the educational field stemming from observation and care.
In 2019, FCCT began its work, opening psychomotor and personal work sessions to elderly people with disabilities and/or neurological difficulties (motor problems, vision problems, dementia). In 2020, we started with an inclusive group of children in the educational field called Saudade; previous step to the school that we are projecting in Sa Cabaneta, as well as the cross-generational painting workshop and the collection of books for the Library.
In November 2022 we organized a Solidarity Workshop for the restoration of the original shelters of Sa Cabaneta, with La Escuela Artesana and Jordi Ribas, a craftsmanship. Throughout these years of work in Palma, we have been collecting qualitative data through the testimonies of the participants in our action, according to their experience:
"I am delighted to have met you because you make us leave home, we meet people, we empathize with them, beautiful friendships can remain. I didn't know that this type of social activity (Psychomotricity) existed for all ages." Asunción, participant program course 2021-22
"For me it's coming to laugh for a while, coming to listen to stories, I think it's very nice. It does me good to connect with others. It makes me see that I'm not the only one who has good things happening to me or bad things." Diana, participant course 2021-22.
"I like to communicate with this group, calling the others, it helps me laugh." Hector, participant course 2020-21 and 2021-22.
Jaime (73 years old, group 2019), tells us: "I have not used the walker again, since I come it is like witchcraft, they are the nerves of the brain that send the body to respond and not be dragged by adversity. My attitude has changed"
Jandro, painting workshop 2022.
"Having the freedom to do something that I have always liked, without being judged or observed, being able to let my thoughts run and capture them in the form of painting connecting with myself, having the opportunity to share that time with others"
Our project reasserts the feasibility of investing in the transformation of an old building, with an educational use, into a welcoming, inclusive and sustainable space, through the maintenance of those original elements pertaining to the Majorcan cultural heritage, while combining them with cutting-edge elements. Thus, we manage to integrate sustainability in teaching and learning, and every other aspect of their activities. We live and we connect with sustainable, natural spaces to feel them and integrate them. No learning is possible without emotion, and this emotion is necessary if both children and adults are to develop and implement the needed environmental sustainability.
We are talking about a building which is not only physically, but also emotionally and cognitively accessible in all regards, just like the activities that take place there in.
Inclusion and sustainability go hand in hand, enabling one of our pillars: integrating and preserving natural spaces, promoting respect for the environment and encouraging human contact with nature from educational innovation.
