EUROPEAN CULTURAL DEHESA. RECOVERING AND REDESIGNING TO COME TO THE BALANCE
EUROCULDE is an initiative that was born from our school to generate social and cultural value in our context, trying to open our pasture, as a natural environment, to the population; looking for new balances and uses of it that help its recovery and the restoration of its biodiversity.
Our project seeks a transformation, built on 3 European cultural itineraries. In these, you can find 27 stands have been designed (9 on each route) that correspond to the 27 countries of the European Union.
Regional
Spain
Cecclavin, Zarza la Mayor, Acehuche, Extremadura
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): IESO Cella Vinaria Type of organisation: Other public institution First name of representative: Jose Manuel Last name of representative: Galan Cortes Gender: Male Nationality: Spain Function: Coordinator of European Projects Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Avenida de todos los emigrantes 84. Town: Ceclavin Postal code: 10870 Country: Spain Direct Tel:+34 605 26 60 11 E-mail:ieso@cellavinaria.org Website:https://iesodececlavin.educarex.es/
Our EUROpean CULTural DEhesa project [from now on EUROCULDE] is an initiative that was born from our school to generate social and cultural value in our context, trying to open our pasture, as a natural environment, to the population; looking for new balances and uses of it that help its recovery and the restoration of its biodiversity.
Our project seeks a transformation, built on 3 itineraries that cover practically the entire pasture. They are European cultural itineraries. 27 stands have been designed (9 on each route) that correspond to the 27 countries of the European Union. They have been located in spaces where the pasture has been affected by the "Seca" (holm oak decline disease), and it is with the wood of these specimens and recycled material, with which we are going to work. Thus, each stand will have two structures:
1- A large letter corresponding to the initial of that country. It is an interactive point where, thanks to QR codes, information from that country is accessed in various formats (audio, video, text) and languages in order to make it accessible to the entire population.
2- A sculpture/model linked to the culture or heritage of that country. These are creative and interactive designs where QR codes give access to cultural information (work, author,...) as well as the creation process of what is being visited.
All the material and documentation is carried out by the students from different subjects through creative and entrepreneurial methods. We are a Learning Community, which is why we open the school to families, volunteers and institutions. A project of such dimensions is unaffordable only by the school. Requires establishing collaboration networks (city hall, schools in EU countries, regional institutions,)
Reforestation actions, pest control, rationalizing the livestock use of the pasture (overexploited in areas and abandoned in others) complement our action.
Education
Entrepreneurship
Transformation
European culture
Rebalancing
Among our key objectives are to reconsider the relationship with nature and regenerate our nearby ecosystem.
The pasture is a unique ecosystem in the world for its characteristics, for being a sustainable model, for the balance between exploitation and conservation of the environment.
Equilibria are dynamic and evolve or break. In the pasture, the evolution of factors (livestock practices, agricultural abandonment,...), together with the appearance of new agents (depopulation, climate change, the "Seca") is leading the pasture to a dangerous evolution, with a loss of biodiversity and a "forgetfulness" of it by the population that threatens its continuity.
The meadows were the livelihood of the rural areas of Extremadura and with our project we want the meadow to take center stage in the transformation that our rural area is undertaking. Making the pasture a claim does not annul its traditional use, rather it will help to regulate it since we find areas of the pasture that are overexploited compared to other areas that are abandoned. In addition, with initiatives such as reforestation or the fight against drought, we are taking steps to recover that biodiversity that we are losing in certain areas.
The fact that the project arises from the educational field guarantees not only its immediate impact but also in the medium and long term with which we guarantee the appreciation and care of this space.
Last, but not least, is the fact that part of the actions that we are going to develop will be carried out with recycled material or with material generated by the pasture itself (oaks affected by the "Seca"). This action focuses on threats to the environment and the importance of the actions we carry out to guarantee sustainability. Examples of this are the reforestation of new holm oaks or the elaboration of traps with recycled material, for insects linked to the transmission of the "seca", to avoid pests.
One of our objectives is to bring people closer to nature and as we have pointed out, the great claim is that this project brings added value to the pasture: Culture.
Specifically, the European context of the itineraries does nothing more than open this rural area to the outside, enabling an exchange of knowledge flows by bringing European culture to students, locals and visitors while rural culture and wealth can be transmitted and exported to the people who visit us.
For our school, it is an opportunity to take another step in the European dimension of our education, since the Euroculde project represents a transversal educational resource capable of bringing together each and every one of the subjects that the students study.
Keeping in mind that we are a Learning Community, many of the actions that we carry out will reach families, volunteers and institutions in such a way that aspects such as empathy or the sense of belonging to the project will go beyond the students, it will reach a large part of the citizens of the area.
On an aesthetic level, the fact of "diving" into European culture makes it possible for us to interact with artistic and architectural works recognized for their beauty, creativity and meaning. The fact of having to bring this essence to each of the country's stations will force a creative process and ideas that are based on consolidated and recognized aesthetic canons. We believe that the result is impressive as well as aesthetic, since we are going to introduce plastic and cultural products on a natural background such as the pasture, an example of the man-environment balance that is reconsidered to find new balances.
We have pointed out that our school is a Learning Community and there is no more inclusive educational strategy (INCLUD-ED 2006-2011 research). The Euroculde project comes to add new interactions to our community to raise the learning levels of all students. The proposed actions are carried out based on successful educational actions (interactive groups, gatherings,...) that guarantee the inclusion of all students and enable the incorporation of other agents of the educational community (families, volunteers, institutions) in the actions teaching.
We focus these actions on entrepreneurship and we take care that the activities are worked around new entrepreneurial methodologies. Thus, it is common to propose interactive groups based on activities arising from the SCRUM or Canvas methodology. In this way, we guarantee that we reach all students and at all learning rates.
At the same time, this organization makes it possible for all voices and ideas to be heard and those that are best argued are always prioritized or chosen. Bearing in mind that this is the method to "cook" the final products that we are going to find in the Euroculde itineraries, we are giving guarantees that all the sensitivities and ideas have been raised, listened to and settled in a final result, endowed with a sense of belonging to the community, since it has been achieved thanks to a common task.
On the other hand, the design of the Euroculde has kept inclusion and accessibility very much in mind. Not only are the itineraries accessible to any population, but also the interaction with the information at the various points-stands in the countries has been designed to reach anyone regardless of their characteristics. Thus, the information is in various formats [written, audio, video], in other languages (English and Portuguese), and in Braille and Sign language in order to make it accessible to the entire population.
Although the initiative has arisen from the educational environment, the excellent relations with other institutions and associations in the environment have meant that the final form of the project is the result of the contribution of various sources and people. Euroculde, has been raised from the field of entrepreneurship, understanding this as the ability to act on an idea or opportunity to create value for others. This value can be cultural, social or economic. In our case, we believe that our project will generate value in all 3 areas.
The cultural value will be one of the most visible as it will be observed from different perspectives. Euroculde brings our environment open to the outside, enabling an exchange of knowledge flows, bringing European culture closer to students, locals and visitors while rural culture and wealth can be transmitted and exported to the people who visit us. It is being during the implementation and execution of the project (by all the agents that are involved) and it will be when it is finished.
The social value goes hand in hand with the previous one, since the revitalization of the context brings with it social influences. This project matches perfectly with other initiatives in our environment that seek to revitalize our rural environment from greater citizen participation that promotes initiatives aimed at curbing rural problems and difficulties.
Regarding the economic value, we focus on two axes: recovery and claim. Euroculde is going to bring both. The recovery, understood as rebalancing and reorganization of a space, at the same time offers new possibilities of use, which will serve as a claim for the pasture and nearby towns. The showcase works if it is exposed to the public and the project will bring the public. Our area has fantastic "showcases" (gastronomy, crafts, food products, accommodation, experiences...) that are waiting to be discovered.
We want to emphasize that this is a large-scale project, so it is impossible to carry it out only from our school. It requires establishing networks of collaboration and participation. In these networks are:
- The town hall and the commonwealth. Local institutions and associations in the immediate environment are vital, not only to obtain permits, but also when it comes to involving the population in this project or establishing collaborations with schools/professional workshops and other workers with whom they occasionally We seek collaboration. (see letters of support to Euroculde)
- Schools. We have links with educational centers in other countries that we will involve when designing the post or stand for your country. We want not to fall into clichés and offer a vision of each country as close and real as possible. At the same time, the interaction between students and teachers from other countries is always enriching and opens up new possibilities.
- Regional institutions. They are aware of our project and help us to spread it. In addition, we have collaborated on other occasions in the entrepreneurial sphere (Entrepreneurial Culture dependent on the Ministry of Education and Employment of the Junta de Extremadura) and in the European sphere (External Action Directorate of the Junta de Extremadura) and this project is not a exception.
- European institutions. As the Mentor Center of the European Parliament, we have a relationship with MEPs and we want to involve them in our project. We believe in the European dimension of education and our project can be a flag of it. In addition, we have close contact with the headquarters of the European Parliament in Madrid, whose department of educational projects is very interested in this initiative and will help us spread it.
The design and implementation of the project has been a participatory process.
The idea arose from the school, as well as the coordinator of entrepreneurial and European projects who had the vision of detecting the potentialities and uniting the meadow and the European field of education through thematic itineraries.
The idea was adding teachers of various subjects. Thus, from the area of plastic education and history, the idea of enriching the project from European art and culture was contributed, fleeing from stereotypes and offering broad and diverse knowledge. The importance of aesthetics and design in the itineraries began to emerge.
From the field of forest exploitation (we have basic professional training in this branch at our school), the focus was placed on the threats and challenges that the pasture currently has and how the project could implement actions that help to recover the pasture (Reforestation of holm oaks, traps for pest control,...)
From computer science, the importance of making information points interactive, easy to access and that make it possible to update the information. The idea of using QR codes with which to access information (texts, audios, videos or websites) arises.
From educational guidance and languages, the need to make information accessible, both in format and in language, was provided. This, together with the contribution of the teaching staff coordinating the educational TV and the educational radio of the center, finished chiseling the design of the information that the itineraries will provide to the visitors.
With the much more mature idea, it was when the coordination of European projects opened up the possibility of making other schools from different countries participate in the project. The idea is that these centers provide us with the vision of their own country. This, together with the documentation process that we carry out in the center, are the bases on which we build the different stands of the countries
There are several aspects that give this initiative an innovative character.
In the first place, providing the environment in which we are going to act with new values, which are understood to be far from its nature. Thus, the fact of adding a European, cultural and artistic dimension to a pasture; From the beginning, a union may be difficult to implement, although our initiative is a perfect solution for all factors to achieve harmony.
Secondly, the use we make of the impact that the image on social networks has on our society. This reality has had a lot of weight in the design of our routes and country stands. These "Photocalls" are the claim to attract the entire population, but especially young people, to a natural, cultural and sustainable environment.
We can also highlight the use of new technologies to reduce the impact (printed panels have a greater impact while their conservation is complex), enabling the information and content to be "alive" (they will be updated and diversified) and promoting the interaction with the visitor (access to content, feedback...).
Highlight as innovative the fact that the content and products of each country come from collaborative actions resulting from the active participation of many agents (students and teachers from our school, schools from various countries, associations and organizations in our area), providing the result of diverse sensibilities and visions.
And lastly, the fact of generating a global learning resource, understood in this way since it has an impact on an entire community (it goes beyond the scope of regulated education by having the participation of citizen organizations) and transcends it (with the collaboration of other centers and regional organizations and from other countries) during its realization and after the end of the initiative thanks to its maintenance and visitors.
The replication of the initiative is viable in many settings, although we believe that the value of our initiative lies in its inspiring role.
We believe that the fact that a school embarks on transforming its context by trying to generate value can inspire. This action is more common in associations or institutions but not in schools and we consider that it is a wonderful resource that provides multiple learning to the entire educational community.
It can inspire the fact of conditioning your initiative to the dynamics and reality of our society. Thus, the impact of the image on social networks has conditioned the design of our routes and country stands. These "Photocalls" are the claim to attract the entire population, but especially young people, to a natural, cultural and sustainable environment.
It can inspire to open schools to work with other centers or other agents. Networking is much more productive by multiplying the quantity and quality of interactions, while ensuring end products with higher value.
It can inspire the creative methodology in which many mistakes are made and everyone is used as a resource. Sometimes we sin of an education that is too instructive in which the error is penalized and not analyzed. This initiative can inspire to create spaces in which students learn, inquire and make mistakes to continue learning.
We can inspire by positioning education as a service to society. In our case, it is visible from different points of view, ranging from coordination and collaboration with other agents during the process, to the final product and its impact on the context.
We can inspire by the use we make of new technologies by teaching students to create rigorous content while training them in the search and selection of information from resources and providing them with digital competence. We can also inspire by putting new technologies at the service of our curiosity.
Our methodology is entrepreneurial and tries to comply with the premises of any entrepreneurial process:
-Students are the center and protagonist of the actions. Both in the creative process, in the implementation or in the finalization of the products, the student body plays a main role.
-Teamwork. The actions require group work in which it is necessary for various roles to intervene (brain, implementer, cohesionist, specialist,...). We rely on the Belbin role theory and apply it to our initiative.
-Promote interaction with people and agents outside the school. Collaboration between school, organizations, institutions, other educational centers, volunteers,...; It is one of the maxims that give character to our initiative.
-Encourage the error and try it as a way of learning. The error is one of the most powerful sources with which to work creativity. We take great care in error management, so that it is perceived as something inherent to learning.
-Generate scenarios in which students must consider how to create value in the environment. Our initiative is linked to the environment in each and every one of the phases and champions the creation of value as the maxim of our project.
-Facilitate feedback. Closely linked to previous premises, feedback is continuous and diverse, when interacting with other people, managing errors or considering actions that require teamwork.
-Link it with real, current and interesting topics. We believe that sustainability, care for the environment, the recovery of rural areas, culture... are all top-order topics in terms of interest and topicality.
Among the methodologies used, we have agile methodologies, among which we point out the use of SCRUM and CANVAS. Organizations such as interactive groups are common to promote teamwork and the interaction of other agents with the students.
We highlight 4 global challenges (according to UN 2023) that our initiative addresses in our context. These are: Climate Change, Aging, Youth and Migrations.
Climate Change is one of the threats to the dehesa. We have articulated a series of actions (reforestation, reorganization of the exploitation of spaces, care for the environment, actions to fight pests and diseases...) aimed at curbing the effects of climate change, strengthening the ecosystem while educating and awareness to the population in taking an active part in this challenge.
Aging in our context has been a reality for decades, aggravated by another fact such as the lack of incentives and services for Youth. Consequence of this phenomenon is a negative Migration that is leading to the depopulation of rural areas like ours. Our initiative seeks to involve the general population, generating value in the territory. Young people have a leading role in this initiative that does not leave out the elderly. Quite the contrary, because in the interaction with them and their participation has been and is essential in certain actions.
We are aware that all challenges are complex and their solutions even more so, but we believe that our initiative adds up when it comes to meeting these challenges, even in our area and context.
The project has been running for months. As a summary we indicate the actions carried out:
-Planning and drafting of the project.
-Creation of its website.
-Presentation of the project to the city council and the commonwealth to obtain permits, to associations and organizations to obtain their support and to farmers to acquire an agreement to respect the itineraries and stands.
-Design, marking of the itineraries, selection of the points of the country stands and development of the content of the countries (20 of the 27 countries have developed and updated information).
-Placement of traps with recycled material to capture cerambyx.
-Contact and confirmation with schools from 5 countries to coordinate their stand on the route (Portugal, Italy, Romania, Germany and Finland).
Actions that are underway:
-Construction of a project infopoint in our center.
-Reforestation of holm oak seedlings throughout the entire meadow
- Sending activities to collaborating schools. Waiting for the first products to arrive (Portugal, Italy and Romania)
-Delegation of teachers and students visit the school in Sipoo (Finland) where we will shape and layout their stand.
-In April we will receive the delegations of schools from Portugal, Italy and Romania. The routes and the first 5 stands will be inaugurated. Stand 0 corresponding to the EU will be designed.
-In May a delegation of students and teachers will go to a school in Hannover (Germany) where we will shape and model their stand.
-In June stand 0 (EU) and the German stand will be inaugurated.
Actions for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years:
-Completion of all the stands of the EU countries of the routes.
-Definitive marking of all routes
-Continuity in the process of reforestation, construction of nests and traps to fight pests.
-Dissemination of the initiative.
-Actions to revitalize the meadow and its resources.
We believe that the Euroculde project addresses the 4 areas of the European sustainability framework.
The area "embodied sustainability values" will be worked on in the different phases, by learning the importance of sustainability and appreciating it (La dehesa is an ecosystem based on sustainability and when it has been altered by the factors that intervene, it is entering into a worrisome situation). By working with different generations, learning about fairness will be established. Also, the promotion of nature will be assumed, understanding that man is not something alien and that synergies must be sought that lead to mutual evolution.
In the field of assuming the complexity of sustainability, the project will allow us to work:
Systematic thinking (when talking with farmers, with local entities, with associations,...: we will understand how there are various interactions and they all add up to the sustainability of the pasture)
Critical thinking (being in contact with agents outside the school helps students to take a "photograph" of all those involved, to listen to their arguments and to have a more complete vision of the field in which we are going to act)
The contextualization of the problems (there are several challenges that we are going to face and we are going to see how our positions will evolve, just as the position and ideas of all the agents involved around our project will evolve)
We foresee sustainable futures and we have shown it by imagining a future and sustainable spaces that respond to the challenges of our pasture. We have shown adaptability by presenting our idea against competing positions that do not want to see the environmental problem for other interests and we have known how to explore until we give the project a dimension and shape that makes the community fall in love and convince.
Finally, our network of partners and collaborators only confirms that we work in the last area (Acting in favor of sustainability) in a notable way
