Nazareth Global Education: quality education on every continent

The “Missionary Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth” The congregation was founded by Father Manyanet in 1874 and renewed by Mother María Encarnación Colomina in 1880. Its mission is “to form families according to the model of the Holy Family of Nazareth, especially through the integral education of children and youth in any part of the world”. In recent years they have been a fundamental reference for educational renewal in Spain, led by Mother Monserrat del Pozo, current Superior General. They are developing their educational project in Spain, Cameroon, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Brazil, Indonesia, and Timor Leste.

Education, that common home of children and youth

Pilar Yusta Aragón, MN

Director of the Nazareth School of Madrid

Teacher and graduate in Psychopedagogy

Educate

It is well known that Pope Francis, in his encyclical Laudato Si’, stresses the importance and the need to take care of our common home, understanding as such our earth, which he considers as the Saint of Assisi: “the sister with whom we share our existence”.

It is therefore a common home in the broad sense of the expression, the place where our life takes place, a divine gift created to be available to all, an ecosystem of growth, fertility, and development.

For educators, these ideas that entail beauty, unfolding, learning, and fullness taste like education. Because education is the soil, the humus that makes people grow in all their dimensions and with all their potential.

The affirmation of the right to education is a universally recognized principle today. It appears in the list of vital needs, on which the United Nations Organizations agree. That is to say, every child has the right, everywhere in the world, to receive an education and a quality education.

Why and what do we educate for

From the conviction of the value of the human person and having Jesus Master as our model, the Missionary Daughters of the Holy Family of Nazareth are committed to bringing human, intellectual, professional, spiritual, and social excellence to the world through our educational mission, prioritizing the most disadvantaged places.

Since 1986, we began a path of pedagogical renewal that is updated according to emerging needs without losing sight of the evangelizing commitment. Always promoting people.

The keys to a pedagogical renewal from the vision of Nazareth Global Education

NGE is an initiative of the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. Family of Nazareth, which dreams of changing the world through a commitment to educational innovation.

This innovation, which is based on the idea of responding to current needs, is being carried out through 4 transformations that are a series of articulated and systemic changes grouped into 4 major areas that allow us to dynamize and contextualize the improvement in each specific situation. What are these transformations?

The first transformation that we have is called the CURRICULUM-METHODOLOGY AND EVALUATION. 

It is aimed at achieving active and reflective learning, through comprehension projects, interdisciplinary projects, cooperative work, among others, as well as the change in the evaluation of the learning process. The curriculum is broadened and enriched through an experiential methodology that also enhances critical and creative thinking and requires an evaluation not only of learning but also for learning. Self-assessment by the students themselves is essential to make it possible to continue learning by visualizing strengths, weaknesses, strategies, and objectives.

A second transformation is a change in the ROLE OF THE TEACHER/LEARNER in which the former becomes a companion and connoisseur of different and innovative methodologies, i.e. a manager of learning; and the latter is the protagonist of his own knowledge.

The third transformation refers to ORGANIZATION.  It is necessary to change the organizational scheme by placing spaces and times at the service of the Educational Project. If we prioritize attention to diversity, that is to say, if we work on different projects to promote multiple intelligences, we are obliged to make schedules flexible and generate different spaces. Classrooms cease to be linear and become open areas, where there are areas for reflection, spaces to share results, to carry out tests, etc. Generate an organizational structure that makes another way of learning possible.

And finally, the fourth transformation, that of LEARNING SPACES. To dream of an architecture that helps to create diverse spaces in which to learn in a thousand different ways. Everything at the service of learning. Transforming the school into an environment in which everything educates, turning walls into talking tools, opening classrooms, resizing corridors…

To also make way for the digital space, in order to facilitate the personalization of learning that allows the student to design and carry out his or her own itinerary.

Understanding schools in terms of Laudato Si. Sustainable change and innovation require spaces in which light, energy, colors, ventilation, and good acoustics facilitate them.

And if we go further, we should not stay inside the walls. The city, the environment of the Center, museums, trips to other countries… are also true learning environments, where students can develop their intelligences and forge their own learning in an experiential way.

And these keys… are they valid for any place in the world? 

Colegios

Nazareth Global Education is a global network deeply committed to quality education. Through its NGO Bits without Borders, created in 1998, Nazareth Global Education takes education to where it is most needed. Quality education adapted to the 21st century. A commitment that also includes the training of teachers with the aim of turning them into agents of change. This is one of the best keys. That teachers have an excellent professional education and training; investment in teachers. Another is for the educational center to become a hub of innovation, to participate in a coherent project, to work as a team, collaborating with everyone (school, family, the child’s environment). And finally, we must never stop learning in a constantly changing world.

We have been building our model little by little over the years. Our vision framework has been through the 4 transformations. Possibly there is no school that has everything perfect because our mission is totally dynamic, it adapts to people, to the moment, to the contexts, and is open to change.

What makes a path of educational innovation possible anywhere in the world is undoubtedly believing in the transformative power of education and good leadership that generates the need for change and encourages people to be passionate about doing things differently.

Pilar Yusta Aragón, MN

Director of the Nazareth School of Madrid

Teacher and graduate in Psychopedagogy