The school where the student's quality of life is more important than their learning
The Can Vila special education school in Mollet del Vallès has been recognized at the 47th Baldiri Awards.
Barcelona"At our school, we draw on the possibilities that art offers us: music, visual expression, theater... We have such a wide range that we're endless, and at the same time, it's often the way our students communicate," explains Pilar Garcia, director of the Can Vila municipal special education school in Mollet del Vallès. The school, which is located between three and twenty years old, bases its educational project on art, and does so especially through theater. The students who join the Can Vila community have previously attended mainstream school and arrive here after experiencing situations of failure. "What we don't want is for this to happen again when they enter our school. Their autonomy, self-esteem, security, the ability to feel responsible, and the bond they establish with adults, among other things, are important to them, but for us, it's not a priority. Our priority is precisely to value and emphasize the things they must do to improve their quality of life and emotional well-being. Based on this, we will enhance all the abilities our students possess."
And one of the ways they enhance these abilities is through theater. "Theater has been done at our school for many years. It started as a traditional activity to perform The Shepherds, but little by little it has grown and now, the theater we do has become a project that we work on from a committee in which the different departments of the center are represented. The stories they represent and that they work on throughout the course are their own creations and have in their plot some theme that they have worked on in a classroom or the conductors go on stage in two plays." They do two days of performances motivated by the capacity of the Mollet theater, says Garcia. "Before we did a single play and tried to get everyone to participate, but as the enrollment increased, the capacity became too small. Now, dividing the performances into two plays allows everyone to participate, have slightly longer sessions and for each performance to feature young, average and older students at the same time."
Make students' capabilities visible
The goal of these theatrical performances is to highlight the students' abilities and offer them opportunities to communicate their feelings on stage. "We do this by creating scenes so that each student can make their contribution," Garcia emphasizes. "We have to keep in mind that we have students with multiple disabilities, who often can't perform certain movements on their own or even speak, so we create opportunities for them to participate in the play in some way and create a scene that will surely be very emotional." The goal is for all students to appear on stage. "We have to keep in mind that our audience is mostly families, and we want them to be able to enjoy the show and have the opportunity to see their child enjoy it as well." Therefore, a lot of prior work and months of preparation and rehearsals are involved. Furthermore, for example, among the children and young people at the center, there are some with severe autism spectrum disorders that cause them to reject certain sounds or being around large crowds. Therefore, they seek out other opportunities for them to participate in the performances. "In these cases, for example, we pre-record them at school, and they appear on stage via video. We always find a way."
The Can Vila school works to promote inclusion for its students and provide them with opportunities. In addition to the art project, it also works to achieve this inclusion for students attending mainstream schools. "We help students with special educational needs who attend mainstream schools improve their stay through another project we are carrying out: we help school professionals and provide them with resources so that all students can live in a mainstream environment that promotes inclusion," says Garcia.
The involvement of the entire community is key to the success of this educational model. The school's AFA (Academic Association of the Center) also collaborates on this project to ensure it can be carried out annually, as does the Mollet del Vallès City Council. "But we also have the support of the cultural world around us, and every year we involve external people, such as members of the municipality's music school or people related to the artistic world. This year, we involved one of the singers from the Eléctrica Dharma company, who recorded himself in a video that we showed during the performance." Garcia assures that these collaborations help give visibility to the project and make the students' voices heard further.
Recognition of the work done
This year, this visibility has also been rewarded: the school was recognized at the 47th annual Baldiri Awards of the Carulla Foundation in the Transformative School category for its interdisciplinary performing arts project. The award sought to highlight the Molletana school's ability to integrate artistic resources such as theater and dance to foster multiple abilities and talents, while promoting an inclusive and respectful approach toward all children and young people. Garcia acknowledges that when entering the competition, they wanted to show the impact they have on their immediate surroundings and how they achieve these transformations at different levels. "This award also recognizes the work we do in special education schools in general, which is very beautiful and also very intense, but which is sometimes under-recognized, and it needs valid recognition, as has been the case with the Baldiri Awards in our case."
In addition to winning the Baldiri Award at the Transformative School, the Can Vila school also won one of the eight awards in the Arts and Language category. "This school's project is very different from those that have won so far, because it's a special education school, but it's a cross-cutting initiative that works on diversity with people with very diverse abilities," says Marta Esteve, president of the Carulla Foundation. She acknowledges that the Mollet del Vallès school does incredible work supporting and collaborating with families. "Its inclusive project is impacting other schools in the area that are not special education schools, as it gives them tools to work on diversity, which exists in all kinds of settings."
The Baldiri Awards call for entries is announced each year between October and November. Esteve encourages schools to enter the competition to showcase their work. "They shouldn't apply just to obtain the recognition and the prize money, which provides the opportunity to continue, but because in the country we need to know what's being done, what works, and how we can share models."