During the past week, the management team of Los Pinos school in Quito, a member of Parentes International Education Network, has visited schools in Madrid and Barcelona together with other education professionals such as Loreto Moral, headmistress of Fuenllana school.
Sharing experiences and methodologies is perhaps one of the best ways to learn about school management and leadership. Having the opportunity to visit other schools is an enriching and dynamic way of getting to know new pedagogies and how they work in practice, as well as strengthening ties between educational institutions and encouraging collaboration.
In the words of Loreto Moral, headmistress of Fuenllana School and Executive Director of Parentes’ projects in Ecuador, “The aim of these visits is to learn about new pedagogies and how they work in practice: “The aim of these visits is to learn from other schools that may have different methodologies, which can enrich the pedagogy of our schools. Sometimes, principals and teachers can become a bit closed in on our own realities, and in this sense, visiting different schools allows us to contrast experiences, rethink the way we do things, learn from something we didn’t know, etc. Visiting schools is a way for management teams to continue training ourselves.
We are looking forward to returning to our country to apply what we have learned and make innovations to improve our school.
In this spirit, during the past week, Pilar Costa, director of the Los Pinos school, and Pinina Delgado, director of pre-school at the same school in Quito, Ecuador, have travelled to Spain to visit 8 educational institutions in Madrid and Barcelona. During these visits they were accompanied by staff from Parentes Red Educativa Internacional, as well as Loreto Moral. In Barcelona they were joined by Monica Larruy and Carmen Arrufat, directors of early childhood education centres, who are currently advising Los Pinos on the development of pre-school pedagogy. The visits were also joined by three Fuenllana nursery and primary school teachers. There, with the help of the teaching and management staff of the centres, they got to know first hand the Rosella Groga school, the Waldorf school and Congrés d’Indians.
For Pilar Costa, this “has been a very enriching experience,” says the director of Los Pinos. “We have been able to learn about different methodologies, strategies, and share good practices on “learning spaces” that will help to strengthen our pedagogical model. We are looking forward to returning to our country to apply what we have learned and make innovations that will improve our school. We are very happy and grateful for the opportunity that Parentes Foundation has allowed us to experience these days”.