Municipals and Schools for Learning Cities

Municipals and Schools for Learning Cities

Background
We presented this project because we all firmly believe that learning, to be effective, must be community-based. In this way we wanted to overcome traditional barriers: to break down the walls of the classroom (according to our slogan), especially as far as schools are concerned, to bridge the gap between citizens and public authorities as far as municipalities are concerned. We need students, families, and associations to get involved in the broader life of the community: so we, as educators and administrators, can generate truly meaningful knowledge and improve the resilience of the city. In this way we want to solve our needs for a school that is still too closed to the outside world and lacks the relationships that give the learning process the meaning it still lacks. These were the most immediate needs that prompted us to present the project. As another of our slogans, which we have included in one of the project posters, says: "It takes a school to make a city, it takes a city to make a school," it was precisely the lack of the latter perspective that prompted us to write the project, making us shoulder some personal sacrifices as well.

Objectives
The idea was to build a network of organizations structured around Learning Cities principles such as: active citizenship; sustainable development; building partnerships at local, national and international levels; and involving city leaders and representatives in school projects. Implementing actions and projects aimed at economic and ecological sustainability, which, the latter, can give meaning to the students' learning process.

Implementation
In general, we have been active in three different areas: sustainability, inclusiveness and digitization. Several activities have been carried out: a needs survey to better focus the orientation and preferences of users and stakeholders; the creation of a Youth Parliament in collaboration with local authorities; a festival on the theme of learning and sustainable development; a website to be able to realize our proposal
constantly visible and promoted by social media; a second festival related to digital learning; several projects related to the dimension of intervention on public spaces such as a Campus on Stem methodology held with other European students; projects for the redevelopment in a green sense of urban areas; finally, the project produced a resolution of the municipal council of Nocera Umbra that launched the project of the city as Learning City.

Results
Concrete project outputs can be distinguished into intangibles and tangibles. Regarding the former, the Project promoted Learning City concepts, methods and models including to the awareness of the complexity of citizenship, the greater involvement of students in school and city government. Throughout this project, the Israeli center has been a source of inspiration for other project partners. Indeed, in addition to conducting local activities and developing additional programs, the city functions as a learning laboratory and incubator, inspiring other local authorities to join Israel's Learning Cities. As a result of the projects, we have witnessed increased community involvement in educational activities. In addition, there has been an increase in adults seeking to participate in intergenerational programs, particularly those designed to teach them new technologies and skills.
In addition, increased digitization has allowed us to provide a broader learning environment that extends outside of school and into the community, both because students are now able to involve families in their learning and because more learning opportunities are available in general due to the increased availability of independent courses. Remote access to information and learning has also increased learning opportunities and availability for children who cannot be in school, in turn creating additional learning environments as students use the technology taught and provided to them to form their own remote environments.
Regarding the tangible results achieved, the following can be listed: increased student participation in the management of school projects; the creation of school areas aimed at sustainability (green spaces, signage, waste management); the creation of signage, posters and other signage related to Erasmus+ and Learning Cities in school spaces; and the production of sustainability projects handed over to the public agency for implementation in urban areas.

The Partners:

Istituto Omnicomprensivo D.Alighieri, Italy - Coordinator

Ayuntamiento de Alcora, Spain
LICEUL BANATEAN, Romania
Modiin Municipality, Israel
Platon M.E.P.E., Greece