8. Talking with Pilar Alonso. Head of the counselling and Innovation department at Gaudem School

Today we've shared the session with Pilar Alonso who is the head of the counselling and Innovation department at Gaudem School.

Self-reflection

There are two main things that I highlight the most from today's session:
- First of all the way Pilar has talked about barriers elimination instead of curricular adaptation. It is not just a matter of words but of how education is conceived. It is not that you adapt the classroom for one student in need is that the classroom is structured both physically and methodologically so that any student who comes won't encounter any barrier for her/his learning. This concept usually is clear speaking about building adaptations... (For example the school has an elevator so if a person with mobility difficulties come won't find a physical barrier to arrive to his/her class... If there were no elevator before even knowing that a student which such characteristics could come to the school it wouldn't be ready for its use when needed) but if talking about physical barriers it seems obvious it is not that obvious while speaking about methodologies.
How to eliminate barriers for those who have learning difficulties? How to include them in the class and enhance their motivation? This leads to the second main thing I've realized during today's session:
- Cooperative learning is a very good solution to eliminate barriers. The methodology Pilar told us was very similar from the one I've experienced at Carlos Cano school with measures as trying to do whenever possible all the support measures inside the classroom, whenever possible there are at least 2 teachers per classroom and this is achieved through a teacher support web (whenever a teacher has a free hour s/he enters in another class), there is no textbook neither in primary education nor in secondary education... She has put into words many thing I've been elaborating this year through my experience in the school that were floating as thoughts through my mind.
She reinforced the idea that teachers should have both technical and reflexive skills and, as reflection is easier in a group, it should be collaborative. There is a need to change a lot of minds who think poor boy... S/he has the right of an education of quality. So his/her teacher needs to be an educator instead of an instructor.
There are still many things I can not elaborate in words from that day... but I have one thing for sure, the idea of bringing an expert to the class to chat with her is a very good methodological tool we should bear in mind once teaching because it allows the students to know the reality of what they are studying in the words of a person who is experiencing it instead of mere theory.