Viladecans
Viladecans, with its 65.779 inhabitants, Barcelona Metropolitan Area is well communicated -15 min. from El Prat airport, 20 min. from Barcelona’s main University area and 35 min. from Barcelona’s centre. It is home to 1.565 companies, ranging from small ICT innovation companies (Click it) to big multinational Spanish headquarters (Unilever).
Its restless spirit and focus on the city’s progress have led the City Council to focus its actions on fostering and consolidating a variety of educational innovation projects in order to help boost the city’s educational success for over the last decades. In 1990 Viladecans joined the Chart of Educating Cities; it is member of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities, and takes part in national and international education projects. Viladecans is keen on boosting an education where “everyone educates” (families, business, entities…) and bring education beyond the schools. By fostering educational success, the city aims at ensuring better opportunities and quality of life for all and making the city more attractive, modern and suited to the city profile and the changing needs in the labour market.
Achievements
Our achievements in Viladecans are mostly in relation with the improvement of our Good Practice as set out in the initial Improvement Plan that we committed to at the project start. We considered a total of 4 enhancements areas for the Educational Innovation Network throughout the project life.
As a result, we have:
- Paved the way for the set up and running of the Educational Innovation Network Driver Group, a group that is tightly linked to the URBACT local group participating in the ON BOARD project activities and that will greatly contribute to the autonomy and sustainability of the local Network. As an example of its relevance, this group quickly reacted to address and offer solutions focusing on the needs emerging from the pandemic situation in Viladecans’ schools.
- Strengthened the participation of new stakeholders in the Network that weren’t full part of it, namely the local entities. Their participation in the URBACT local group allowed them to visit partner cities and encouraged an open-mindedness when it came time to collaborating with the local Educational Innovation Network project.
- Sit different municipal departments at the same table to create a set of education indicators for measuring changes and impacts of the Viladecans’ efforts in the education policies. The indicators will inform policy-makers and community stakeholders and help them improve implementation, decision-making and investments.
- Approved a new project with young people to empower and attract them to participate in the Educational Innovation Network. The Good Friends project begins in the first term of the 2021-2022 academic year which involves high school volunteer students monitoring and coaching younger students arriving to the education centre for the first time.
Beyond the ON BOARD Improvement plan, and as a lead city in the transfer process, we managed to:
- Initiate and or plan, a total of 6 new education projects transferred from the different ON BOARD Cities
- Plan for the next step in the Educational Innovation Network communication strategy supported by a new Educational Network Communication Hub, a digital platform specific for the Education members.
Viladecans' EducationalInnovation Network KeyCommunity Members
Ourimpact
Schools
participating
in ON BOARD
6
Teachers and principals
participating
in ON BOARD
13
Students
involved in ON BOARD projects and activities
6
Families
directly participating in activities and meetings
8
Companies
participating in ON BOARD activities and meetings
2
Universities
that have contributed to the project
2
Local entities
participating in ON BOARD activities and meetings
6
Mayors and councillors
who have participated in meetings or events of the network
3
People from the municipal staff
involved in the project
10
Pilot Projects
initiated in your city
3
ULG
meetings
9
Viladecans voices
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