The year is coming to an end, a moment in which the majority of the population reviews, and if we do so, subjectivities aside, we will have to weigh not only the victims of Covid-19, but also a new summit for the fruitless climate, and a growing social polarization.
On a personal note, I believe that the pandemic has brought out selfishness and reinforced individualism, I have no data but I see it in the environment and I have even suffered it. However, I will continue to preach that only by understanding that we are interdependent as people and as a species can we take an attitude of collaboration: in schools, beyond professional egos; collaboration in citizen networks beyond interests. Collaboration is the basis of social survival and only with the altitude of sight that allows us to understand that no one can do everything by himself and that giving for the common good is enrichment, can we leave a society in which we all fit. In fact, it is the collaboration of the six dimensions that UNESCO< /a> values learning for the 21st century.
To see the future you need eyes of hope, and you cannot work in education without having your eyes set on the future and with positive expectations. Therefore, to gain strength we must look at the good things that happen around us. And positive things are happening in relation to collaboration.
The first of these, on a social level, is that at this moment it is already underway the Citizen Assembly for Climate, an assembly which has the participation of 100 people and 16 independent experts. This Assembly was born after the publication of a draft ministerial order aimed at strengthening dialogue with society. The objective is to open the debate for the search for solutions. The Assembly will take place in three phases, a first for learning and information, a second for debate and a third for content generation. This Climate Assembly empowers the masses to participate. It has already been demonstrated in France y United Kingdom that society is enabled if it is formed. The Assembly is an example of how to involve society and gives the opportunity to listen to their vision of the problem. It is collaboration. However, it is not without criticism or negative points. The decisions made in it, its resulting proposals, are not binding, therefore, this entire participatory process could remain in measures that are never carried out. In France, President Macron has promised to carry out 147 of the 150 measures presented; everything is still in process and the Gallic Government does not fare very well in the general evaluation regarding the weather. We will have to wait until the end of the process of the Citizen Assembly for the Climate in Spain to know the proposals and how many of them the Government finally commits to but, for now, let's stay with the attitude of collaboration and social participation.
Second, it is worth mentioning the Lomloe. Without going into its curricular analysis, we cannot ignore the fact that this law creates a citizen competence. A key competence that has the same value as linguistic or mathematical competence, given that, as the law itself says, there is no hierarchical structure between the competences.
A citizenship competence whose brief conceptualization says that it is the ability to act as responsible citizens and fully participate in social and civic life, based on the understanding of social, economic, legal and political concepts and structures. And among the items to assess whether the students have acquired this competence, the following is cited: “Participate in community activities and contribute to the dialogue resolution of conflicts in a conscious and respectful way with democratic procedures, Human Rights, cultural diversity, gender equality, social cohesion and sustainable development”. It is a commitment to social involvement, to collaboration. A commitment that is reinforced in article 110 of the Lomloe, which in its point 4 speaks that "the centers as spaces open to society of which they are a nuclear element, will promote work and < strong>coordination with the administrations, entities and associations in its immediate environment, creating open educational communities, engines of social and community transformation”. We are facing a law that speaks of creating communities, of opening up to the environment, of social transformation. None of this is possible without knowing how to collaborate.
Finally, I would like to end by talking about a practical example of collaboration carried out between an institute (IES Ribeira do Louro), the City Council where it is located, O Porriño, the Xunta de Galicia and two African entities: the University of Cape Verde and a small Mozambican association. The project, called Ecoyouth, works on the empowerment of youth in the face of climate change. After the visit to Cape Verde by the teachers and local entities to learn about local problems such as the continuous droughts, and establish contact with the students of the University, the mobility of the Cape Verdean and Mozambican students to the Galician people is expected so that, Through peer learning activities, knowledge is shared about the advantages of using waste through composting, drip irrigation or the circular economy. A learning among equals, in a collaborative way, in which all the parties add up and help each other.
Collaboration is learned actively, it is worth nothing to have a garden if each one takes care of his piece of land; Collaboration is helping to remove the weeds that are growing in your sowing, it is helping to water the part that someone else has sown. It is teaching teamwork to be proud of a joint final product and is, in turn, the basis of social and environmental sustainability.