The educating cities of the Algarve gathered in Lagoa, on the 2nd and 3rd of October, at the Convento de S. José Auditorium, for the XNUMXst Regional Meeting of Educating Cities.
The main objective of this initiative was to «strengthen and disseminate the Educating City proposal, sharing experiences and educating ideas among the Algarve's municipalities and winning the reception of the VIII National Congress of the Portuguese Territorial Network of Educating Cities (RTPCE), which will take place between 15 and May 18, 2019".
For Francisco Martins, Mayor of Lagoa, «our best investment throughout this term is in Culture and Education. This is the true legacy we can leave».
Lagoa is one of the 73 territories that belong to the Educating Cities Network. In the Algarve, in addition to Lagoa, the municipalities of Lagos, Silves, Albufeira and Loulé are part of the Network.
At the opening of this meeting, Francisco Martins highlighted some of the most recent achievements: «the municipality won, for the second consecutive year, the Living in Equality Award, together with four other municipalities in the country», and will develop, from 2019 onwards, «a project of Participatory Citizenship».
As explained by Câmara de Lagoa, «the first steps towards Educating Cities came in the 70s and the concept was made official by Barcelona in 1990. Today, 490 cities/local governments/territories, from 36 countries and of the five continents».
Despite being increasingly present, in local communities, «a work of sharing, of joint search for solutions, of valuing practices in a broad perspective of Education», as Paulo Louro, from RTPCE says, «there are still those who have this one. limited representation. There are still those who think that the entities responsible for Education are the School and the Family; or that the time of Education is only childhood and youth; and there are still those who have a conception that Education is equal to instruction».
For the representative of the Coordinating Committee of the Portuguese Territorial Network of Educating Cities (RTPCE), who participated in the Round Table on the 2nd of October, under the theme “Lagoa, Educating City – a network challenge”, «we live in societies that have difficulty in dealing with time and all those who work in the field of Education know how fundamental this is in learning».
Therefore, he adds, «local governments must increasingly promote knowledge», gain «the tendency to define policies at the expense of national governments» and «bet on the issue of identity through the virtual, connecting people to the territory where were born or studied».
“We want everyone to understand that an Educating City is not limited to the Education portfolio”, said Francisco Martins. "For its construction", he adds, "we have 450 employees and a budget of 35 million euros".
«Environment, Sports, Culture, Education and Citizenship are all themes that are part of this Lagoon – Educating City», he adds.
According to the Charter of Educating Cities, this is a territory "where education throughout life, in diversity, with intergenerational dialogue and with the right to formal, non-formal and informal education".
According to Paulo Louro, the commitment of the local governments that sign this letter involves «perpetuating the identity of the territory, carrying out an urban planning that promotes conviviality, the relationship between subjects, generating a sustainable development that does not mortgage the resources of future generations, responsible civic participation and the offer of an integral service to the citizen, planning educational responses in accordance with the development needs of individuals and the needs of the labor market».
This path includes gains such as “associativism, social cohesion, social justice and the fight against info-exclusion”.
«Lagoa was already an Educating City before being one», considered Águas da Cruz, president of the Municipal Assembly, who explains that «there has been a set of practices in Lagoa that integrate the concept and main principles of the City Charter. Educators».
According to Águas da Cruz, this contributes to “living the Educating City without having the perception of the concept”.
This issue has, for the President of the Municipal Assembly, "the privilege of placing the citizen and human rights at the forefront of municipal public life".
“We would therefore like all agents, private and public, all citizens, to form a local network that could be expanded, in order to build an educational city that would allow the exercise of global citizenship”, he adds.
Águas da Cruz also recalled the privileged relationship maintained with schools and associations, "a work of proximity" that the councilor for Culture Ana Martins classifies as "very positive" and "privileged".
Mário Guerreiro and Anabela Ribeiro, presidents of the Association of Parents of the ESPAMOL Group and of the Assembly of Parents of the Rio Arade Group of Schools, refer, however, that there is a growing difficulty in «motivating parents, who are mainly concerned with the formal education of the student".
The last day of this meeting, whose central theme was “Creating educating cities in the Algarve”, was also attended by Nelson Dias, sociologist and coordinator of the Network of Participative Autarchies (RAP), who presented a panel entitled “Participation in educating cities ”.
This panel was followed by an exhibition of experiences on the 20 principles in force in the Educating Cities of the Algarve's municipalities, an open space for debate and a visit to the Mestre Fernando Rodrigues School of Arts.
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