What have we learnt from the Edunauta Passport? Lessons and challenges to continue to connect learning

The Edunauta Passport from the Educació 360 alliance has completed its first journey through the learning galaxy during the 2020-21 academic year. It has been a voyage of discoveries and successful shared work between local councils, schools and organisations. We invite you to get to find out more about what we have learnt and what new challenges lay ahead for the forthcoming academic year.

The Edunauta universe

The goal of the Edunauta Passport is to promote and expand the educational opportunities that children participate in out of school and to acknowledge the educational value of this learning. One example is the open activities organised by public facilities and organisations in the municipality. These activities, linked to the Passport, get children and their families involved and connect their outcomes with what children are learning in the classroom.

The Edunauta Passport enables local councils, schools, bodies, organisations, etc. from the same area to work together towards a shared education project

The Edunauta Passport is a flexible, living resource that is adaptable to the needs of each municipality and whose goal is to strengthen educational equity. It enables a wide variety of activities to be offered to enhance the extracurricular education options available, and it improves access and connection to the learning that children experience when school ends. In addition, it enables local councils, schools, bodies, organisations, etc. from the same area to work together towards a shared education project that reaches all children and young people.

Related: The voice of the Edunauta children: What do they keep in their treasured Passport?

This year the Edunauta Passport has landed in 15 areas of Catalonia: Palafrugell, Terrassa, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Granollers, Tàrrega, Tarragona, La Bisbal d’Empordà, Amposta, Sant Vicenç dels Horts, Esplugues, Vilafranca del Penedès, the Pallars Jussà region, and the Carmel-Font d’en Fargues and Sant Andreu neighbourhoods in Barcelona.

This has resulted in more than 100 schools distributing the Passport to almost 7,000 students, who have been able to travel to a hundred educational destinations, such as libraries, museums, community centres, socio-educational centres and sports facilities, where they have enjoyed a range of more than 300 activities for discovery and learning.

Lessons learnt in this first edition

During the first year of its existence, the implementation of the Passport in various geographical areas has allowed us to draw valuable lessons about the connection and recognition of learning in municipalities.

Not all children participate in educational activities out of school. The Passport seeks to make sure that all children, without exception, benefit from learning experiences

The Passport has led to:

1. Different geographical areas rethinking how to create educational opportunities that are accessible to all children. Not all children participate in educational activities out of school. The financial cost, unawareness of the existing opportunities in their neighbourhood, as well as unappealing and unvaried activities, can all be a barrier to participation for the children that need it the most. The Passport is a tool that allows municipalities to tackle these challenges in a tangible way.
2. Municipalities promoting a rich, diverse and balanced range of educational resources. The Passport has been a catalyst for local councils to visualise the existing educational offer outside of school and to be able to rethink it and improve it in terms of equity. This has resulted in an increase in new opportunities, by adding new forums and agents to the local education network and by devising new activities, especially in geographical areas where they did not exist.
3. Various municipal participants working in a collaborative and connected manner. The implementation of the Passport has enabled schools, organisations, public facilities and even different departments of local councils to be involved in a collective education proposal and project. They have shared knowledge, resources and ideas, and have fostered connected work promoting educational equity for their children.
4. Schools being a driver for educational recommendations. Schools have been a linchpin for the application of the tool amongst pupils: not only have they distributed the passports to all children in the municipality, they have also carried out valuable informative work to bring children and families closer to and provide guidance on the learning opportunities offered by the Passport beyond school. All of this has been achieved by energising and promoting tutoring activities with children in the classroom and by using the Passport’s capacity as a learning journal that links their experiences both in and out of school.
5. Comprehensible, shared language between agents to discuss learning and skills. The Passport seeks to ensure that all children, without exception, have diverse learning experiences and, at the same time, learn from them. To ensure acknowledgment of this learning, regardless of the type of activity (leisure, robotics, art, sport, etc.), the project proposes that all activities strengthen and highlight some of the 9 Edunauta superpowers: problem solving, creativity, communication, empathy, teamwork, curiosity, perseverance, initiative and self-regulation.

Related: Tutoring activities as part of the Edunauta Passport: prescribing out-of-school learning activities

A new school year, and new challenges to make the Passport grow!

For the next school year, the Edunauta Passport is seeking to add new geographical areas, expanding its connected educational offer and succeeding in enabling more children to enjoy valuable learning opportunities beyond school.

Related: The Edunauta Passport as a municipal tool that connects the local education ecosystem

Many new areas now form part of the Edunauta community: El Vendrell, Torelló, Viladecans, Sitges, Cassà de la Selva, Palau d’Anglesola, Sabadell, Palafolls, Olesa de Montserrat, Avinyó, Reus and Begur, among others. Added to the participants from the previous school year, these municipalities will mean that the Edunauta Passport will have a presence in around thirty geographical areas during the coming year.

Would you like to participate? The Edunauta Passport is looking for more municipalities that wish to implement the project along with all of its potential. Therefore, new information sessions are already being prepared for autumn to incorporate new areas that wish to pilot the tool from 2022.

Do not miss out and keep up to date with all the news! For more details, write to: hola@passaportedunauta.cat.