From Monday 18 until Friday 22 September 2017, DEMÀ (Departament d'Estudis dels Medis Actuals) organised a training seminar on the subject of education for democracy in Barcelona. The training week coincided with the developments of events around the Catalan independence, which made it all even more interesting and relevant.
The training programme consisted of lectures, visits, workshops and excursions.
On Monday we visited the Colegi de Periodistes de Catalunya for an introductory workshop entitled “What is democracy? How to define democracy?”. In the afternoon, we went on a guided visit to places of significant interest related to democracy in Barcelona. On Tuesday, we met representatives of the town of l’Hospitalet de Llobregat (the second town of Catalonia) in the City Hall of l’Hospitalet de Llobregat. There we attended a presentation about the rules of City Councils in larger cities and a presentation and workshop around the methodology of the City’s learning services and projects. Lunch took place in the adult education centre “El Llindar” in l’Hospitalet de Llobregat. The afternoon concluded with a visit to the historical “Can Riera”, a memorial centre of the City of l’Hospitalet de Llobregat.
On Wednesday we were received at Palau Macaya for an intensive workshop about Media and Democracy with Professor Xavier Giró, Director of the Observatory of Conflict and Professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. In the afternoon, a visit to the Museum of History of Catalonia was planned.On Thursday we visited the IES Bellvitge, Institute of Secondary Education for a workshop on democracy and diversity. On the final day of this intense training week, we had an open discussion about the methods of education for democracy at the Palau Macaya. In the afternoon, we visited the Parlament de Catalunya. The training week closed with the farewell dinner and the certificates ceremony.
It was a week to remember for many reasons.
