Case Studies

Name of the teacher

João Carlos Matos Lopes

Email:

Country:

Portugal

Subject taught:

Filosofia, Psicologia e Psicopatologia

Years of experience:

27 anos

Name of the School:

Escola Secundária Jaime Cortesão

School Typology:

Upper Secondary School

Country:

Portugal

City:

Coimbra

Web site:

Background and Context:

The AECC is a cluster of schools created on July 4/2012. It has a higher secondary school, two schools of lower secondary school and basic school - Poeta Manuel da Silva Gaio and São Silvestre - and eighteen school buildings, dispersed by the Municipality (the most distant schools are about 30 km apart), which are mostly Basic Schools, some with kindergartens and others only with Pre-School Education. At the moment it has 1655 students with different characteristics, justified by its geographic dispersion. This cluster of schools has a considerable number of foreign students, of different nationalities and with parents who do not speak Portuguese. It has specialised support units for the education of students with multideficiency, structured units for the education of students with autism disorders, it is a reference school for the education of students with blindness and low vision as well as for bilingual education of deaf students (EREBAS).
The diversity of the offer to the diverse target audience is major and the geographic dispersion accentuated. Many parents of AECC students belong to disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds with most of them only with basic education, so many of the students meet in the school intellectual, cultural and even affective needs. The responsibility and intervention of teachers and educators in this sense are great, so the dropout rate is residual. Many students are supported by School Social Action (ASE).
The diversity is wide and the geographic dispersion accentuated, however, these factors are seen as challenges for a Group that promotes self-esteem, active citizenship, defending, respecting and promoting values such as trust, dialogue, demand, work, rigor, creativity, transparency, respect, equality, tolerance, inclusion, democratic participation, merit and responsibility. Thus, this cluster, year after year, formed autonomous citizens, inclusive and ready to face the challenges of society, contributing to the common good.

Factual Description:

This activity has been taking place for about 16 years, in the classroom. It started by taking place by enrollment of the interested parties, which allowed to gather in the same room, teachers, students and staff. Accompanying the various reforms of education in Portugal, it has focused in recent years in a classroom context, bringing together two classes and two teachers.
Cases of racial, cultural, ethnic or gender discrimination were not identified, so there was no need for specific intervention in this particular area. Nevertheless, in the normal development of this activity issues such as gender equality and mutual respect in all circumstances are highlighted.

Activities carried out:

The activity being developed by two teachers is part of the original matrix and remains in the current format. Before the workshop, participants previously read the text of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Depending on the number of participants, six or eight groups are formed randomly at the entrance to the Workshop, and specific documents are distributed to each group. The goal is to analyze these documents and confront them with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, assessing if there is or not violation or defense of rights. In recent years cartoons have been specially used (in the original format texts from the written press and cartoons were distributed). It follows the presentation of the results of each group to the large group (the cartoon is shown so that everyone can see it), debating the conclusions and respective rights. This activity aims to promote the knowledge and defense of Human Rights and the development of a critical spirit.

Assessment and lesson learnt:

The debate on the themes of gender equality and respect for human dignity have been well received by students, partly because within the education system these subjects are being worked over time.

Description of the Case Study in National Language: