Education 360: Full-time education

Children carry out most of their daily activities outside of school hours. Lunch time, afternoons, weekends and the summer holidays are moments when children can take part in activities that they enjoy, that motivate them, and which offer them life lessons, connecting them with other friends, other spaces and other interests.

We are talking about learning that is relevant; that which will allow them to plan their own future, in which they can make better decisions. Learning that generates life skills that will help them in their school, work and life.^[1]

But is this learning accessible to everyone? In Catalonia, 32% of children and young people between the ages of 3 and 18 do not take part in any extracurricular activities^[2]. This means that a total of 384,000 Catalan children^[3] do not have access to learning other than in their school or college. This means they don’t have the same opportunities to imagine and build their future compared to children who do take part in extracurricular activities.

The difference in access to this type of learning between primary school children from families with fewer resources and those with more, is almost 30 percentage points. This situation puts them at a clear disadvantage in their aspirations. We can therefore say that the afternoons, weekends and the summer holidays – non-school time in other words – is where most inequalities lie.

What does Education 360 propose?

Education 360 calls for the design of an education without limits: whether to do with space, time, economy or social issues. A connected education which, based on the joint work of the community, offers educational programmes to all its children inside and outside school, advancing towards equality.

The collaboration of all the educational actors in the community, who share the same objectives and roadmap, multiplies the learning opportunities and reduces the educational inequalities in the region. When museums, schools, sports centres, music schools, theatre groups, kids’ clubs and play groups connect and create a real educational ecosystem, they expand the futures of the children of the community, especially of those of the most vulnerable. The social impact on the city, the neighbourhood and/or the population is also very important. It has been said that those regions with higher levels of educational equality have education systems where students achieve a higher average performance.^[4]

Local governments are key players in these ecosystems. They have the ability to coordinate the community’s resources. They can also ensure that everyone has access to extracurricular activities.

What do we do?

The Education 360 Alliance has 4 basic lines of action:

1- We work to convert the right to learn, inside and outside school, into public policy.

2- We promote and get involved in Education 360 experiences throughout Catalonia.

3- We standardise and share knowledge, methodology and research.

4- We are building a Catalan-wide Alliance, to which the city councils, organisations, educational centres and professionals in the field of education belong.

^[1] Education 360. Impacte de les activitats extraescolars de qualitat October 2019. Adaptation of the Network For Youth Success report of the State of New York.

^[2] González Motos, S. and Bonal, X. Desigualtats d’aprenentatge en confinament. March 2020.

^[3] Estimation, from the Idescat Statistical Yearbook of Catalonia. 2020.

^[4] Bonal, X. and Zancajo, A. Educació, pobresa i desigualtats. Department of the Vice-Presidency and of Economy and Finance. Government of Catalonia. 2016.