ComTo project joins students from five European institutions at ESELx

From 27 a to March 31, 2023, the Superior School of Education of Lisbon (ESELx) received the 2 th edition of the short-lived course on "Commoning Pratices", entered in the Erasmus + project, Compare-Blended Short-cycle Training Courses on "Common Practices" that, between 2020 and 2023, put together institutions of higher education from four European countries: the University of Thessaly (Greece), University Pompeu Fabra (Spain), University of Cadiz (Spain), Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia). The School of the Polytechnic of Lisbon is the only Portuguese institution to integrate the consortium.

The blended course (hybrid course) was aimed at challenging students of higher education, of the three cycles: undergraduate, master's and doctoral degrees, in the areas of the Sciences of Education, Social Sciences, Communication and Technology, to explore the values and practices of the pedagogy of common goods (Commons), putting them in touch with the use of innovative methodologies and tools, which promote the development of a differentiated educational environment. In this course participated 20 students, coming from the institutions that integrate the project, among which ESELx students.

curso de curta duração do projeto Compra

This was the second edition of the course, having the first one passed in 2022, in Barcelona. The philosophy of this formation rests on a hybrid model, which integrates several weeks of distance formation, carried out through a platform, which culminated in this presential encounter. Coube told the Higher School of Education of Lisbon to define and organize the program, having presents the three pillars of the project: sociology of education, communication and technology.

In addition to the presentation and exploration of concepts, the participants were able to visit national organizations and projects, whose intervention applies the perspetive of intervention of common goods, participatory democracy and human rights, such as the Boutique of Culture and the Renova Mouraria. The group has visited, still, the FabLab at ESELx, a technological venue project developed at the School of the Polytechnic of Lisbon.

To Catarina Tomás, lecturer of the Higher School of Education of Lisbon and responsible for the project, in Portugal, the week of course in Lisbon, it was a good way for the partners to get to know the work that the School develops in the area, which is not always visible. "There are synergies that have been created and paves the way for new collaborations," believes the Childhood Sociology expert.

The ESELx faculty believes that the ComTo project will allow for a theoretically sustained awareness and an awakening to the awareness of the rights of the child. "We will realize, either in the first edition, or in the second, that there is little knowledge of the contents, even in teacher training is nonexistent this dimension," mentions Catarina Tomás. "It is interesting to see students from the area of technologies and the area of communication with another look at the rights of children," the sociologist states, believing that we are still far from effecting these rights.

Following the course is carried out an evaluation of the project and in function of this, the pathway, methodologies and contents are defined. This second edition ends between May and June, when the students ' notes are released.

Throughout the blended course, students have worked out a specific case related to a form of inequality: racism, sexism, gender issues, disabilities, among others with a view to presenting a project that allows to address the problem and to revert it through an inclusive approach.

Yannis Pechtelidis, Education sociologist and associate professor of the department of preschool Education of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences at Thessaly University, Volos, in Greece is the coordinator of the ComTo project. The initiative of the project departed from the Education Sociology lab that drives, with experience in the field of the Education Commons. "We have a lot of projects in this area and we have prior experience," he mentions. It is upfront that the will is to disseminate the existing knowledge and that is what has determined the choice of partner institutions, among which the Higher School of Education of Lisbon. "We Wanted someone in Portugal to help us with the issues of Childhood and Catarina and their team are experts in the area," Yannis.

"We want to produce knowledge and innovation to promote inclusion and tackle all these issues of inequality, this is the first step," highlights the project coordinator integrated into the Erasmus + Programme 3-Key Action, which started in September 2020 and ends in August this year.

At the Superior School of Lisbon Education of the team of the project ComTo are part, in addition to Catarina Tomás (coordinator), the lecturers Carolina Goncalves and André rocha.

See Press release

Learn more about the international projects of the Politecnico of Lisbon.

Flickr photos from the Projeto Blended Short-cycle Training Courses on "Commoning Practices" (ComPra) album.