Connecting cities through Education

Programme 2014 - 2020 URBACT III

Date of latest update: 2025-01-21

Description

Description (EN):

Local Governments are leverages of educational innovation. We are aware of the opportunities & the needs in the city, we have a privileged knowledge of the stakeholders and, above all, we grow the future citizens. Thus, we should play an active role as educational policy-makers. ON BOARD aims to help local governments to build new partnerships to cocreate policies to empower younger people with the necessary skills to become active & engaged citizens able to face the challenges of new societies.

Achievements (EN):

The ON BOARD transfer process has been an intensive learning and exchange experience, with the results among project partners never more apparent. However, just like coming to the end of a good run, it is clear to all that it’s now time to stop, catch our collective breaths, and to reflect and take in what has been learnt in order to re-start again with a fresh set of legs and new outlooks. The ON BOARD project has gathered together cities of different sizes and regions, which, as in all URBACT Networks as they develop, leads to as many discoveries of transfer challenges as learnings about different personal, professional, cultural, political, and legal contexts of those involved for educational innovation. The transfer methodology that facilitates the bringing together of cities’ representatives and their target people has created the conditions for building the transnational Educational Innovation Network as an education hub helping cities to promote projects in a collaborative and fruitful way involving a diversity of local stakeholders. The process, tools used, and the interactions generated at face-to-face meetings and in virtual spaces have been as important for the Good Practice Transfer as the actual learning of educational innovation-related topics themselves. Peer reviews, joint planning sessions and development of creative and innovative project proposals engaged participants of different profiles and education experiences, they not only expanded horizons of thinking, but enriched multi-disciplinary learning and skills-building. Indeed, when the pandemic burst, and we unavoidably had to turn to the use of online work tools and protocols, this helped boost each ones’ communication and technology skills, which enabled us to keep progressing in our network activities. Results achieved and lessons learnt Now that the project is reaching the end, and with the perspective of the transfer process as a group of learning cities, we are proud to present key learning and achievements in this digital report. Also, the difficulties and pitfalls, which often happen to be the most interesting lessons to learn from. Individual city results can be seen in the Cities’ dedicated section of this document. Below are the overall conclusions and reflections of the Educational Innovation Network transfer process. The ON BOARD project has helped a number of key local stakeholders who have a role to play in education to sit down together and purposefully explore what they think about educational innovation in their city. The numerous encounters at transnational and local level gave them valuable time for such sharing, learning and reflection. What’s more, the transnational 2 to 3-day intensive learning and exchanges abroad helped participants from the same city to meet in unexpected places such as on-site visits, terraces during coffee breaks or even in airports, which helped them get to know each other in a different environment, outside their normal work-day contexts and routines. Not surprising in the least, this led to relaxed, free-flowing thinking and boundary-breaking possibilities (new cooperation across municipal departments, for example). The Educational Innovation topic raises much interest among different groups. Most agree on the need for education systems to catch up with the state-of-play about learning tools and methods and to provide children and youths with skills and capacities beyond what the curricula teaches in the classroom. The ON BOARD experience proves that Municipal governments can make a difference in framing the discussions, encouraging community inter-actions, generating cooperation across sectors, and supporting knowledge flows amongst the key education agents in the city to do just that. Fostering collaboration and sharing moments is an essential practice for learning and improvements in all of the above. Cooperation and teamwork between education centres and between schools and other local agents is opening up the classroom to the neighbourhood and the city. There have been first and important steps towards building a local Network at the district level -Nantes, Poznan, Halmstad and Tallinn- or city level – Viladecans, Albergaria-a-Velha by means of concrete projects to test-drive their first collaborative experiences. The first results of the networking experience have translated into concrete Pilot Projects in Primary and Secondary schools, in collaboration with external stakeholders. These Pilots not only aim to help teachers and others enrich the education ecosystem with new ideas and practices, but to expose students to complex and real-life situations for which they will need -in the spirit of lifelong learning – even more learning and 21st Century skills-building. Students developing measurement devices in the framework of an environmental project within their neighbourhood; children and adolescents exploring and sharing their emotions and feelings; schools participating in projects led by the European Space Agency; Master students talking about healthy habits and how they impact on learning capacities, are but just a few. Commitment -mostly from mayors and vice mayors- and the capacity to mobilise local people and resources, has been key to project success in ON BOARD, as well as in other URBACT Transfer Networks. This is particularly true for smaller partner cities where direct access to local policy makers can make it more agile to react and advance in transfer steps and formalize effective changes. Unfortunately, it is also true for these smaller players that when the unexpected pandemic crisis hit, fewer resources, in particular human resources, were available, which left them in a very difficult position to continue project activities. The transnational level of work, involving local agents who would otherwise not participate in a European project, strongly motivated local stakeholders and contributed to a heightened self-confidence about each one’s work and potential. In addition, these local stakeholders, when seeing the transfer of their own Education projects to other cities, who have adopted them as Pilots, have gained international recognition, which positively reinforces their own local “role” as educational innovators in each city. Inviting out-of-silo peers at transnational meetings has also proved to be a success. The direct contact in a working atmosphere of teachers, entrepreneur’s’ associations, youth clubs, universities, a super-computer research centre, and Education officers, among others, has helped transform mindsets and practices. At the later stage of the transfer period, some transfer sprouts are seen. Viladecans has seen relevant changes where its local education system is adjusting to a more collaborative and networking approach. Tallinn Council decided to split Youth and Sports Department and merge the first one with the Education Department, which is now dealing with the young population, from babies to citizens the age of 26. Halmstad saw improved collaboration between its 2 Education Departments of Primary and Secondary levels and allocated new human resources and municipal budget to continue the Educational Innovation Network activities in the city. Albergaria-a-Velha has supported the consolidation of the Education Network as a permanent community of practice in the city and has allocated significant budget for technological upgrading of local schools. Finally, the lead partner city, Viladecans, has found the transfer experience truly enlightening, benefitting in many ways from the ‘teaching’ role it has played. Though Viladecans had already had a solid track record in its own Educational Innovation Network, ON BOARD proved to be the perfect vehicle for it to focus on areas it set out to address. By sharing its Good Practice with others, Viladecans’ came to recognize its own strengths and potential for improvements thanks to the joint work with its ON BOARD partners. Some pitfalls too As expected, difficulties and challenges emerged throughout the transfer process. Obviously, the one with the highest impact was the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused schools to close and the Education Departments -and other municipal services- to dedicate all time and efforts to meet the organisational and technological needs for the students’ distant learning and the teachers’ capacity to teach on-line. Transfer-wise, below are the most meaningful: The fact that the Good Practice consists of a trust-based educational community requires a mid-to-long term perspective for consolidation. The building blocks for the respective Networks are clear and some have started to operate, but it’s still a work-in-progress dynamic, with each partner finding its own way ahead. Developing a structured Network and a true sense of belonging took almost 5 years in Viladecans, so clearly ON BOARD partners have a way to go before we can begin to compare results. Volunteer contributions need nurturing through communication, training and engagement, even rewards, but obviously such commitments aren’t obtained overnight. Organized communication for the respective Educational Innovation Networks is at an incipient stage too, and mostly relies on the transfer leaders who have participated in ON BOARD activities. Although we have succeeded in creating internal communication and exchange flows, these still need support and driving from the municipal Departments for the purposes of growing and strengthening the Educational Innovation Networks’ interactions. A change of educational mindset has been detected among different stakeholders in partner cities – for more cooperation, not competition, to name just one shift in thinking. Teachers and other local members have diversified their professional relations locally and got inspiration from peer-to-peer exchanges taking place at international events, too. They now report understanding that new ways of making education happen are within their reach. However, a cultural change in the respective education systems has yet to take place at a wider scale, in particular where these are rigid and bureaucratized, and thus less willing – or able – to bring in and use innovative practices and approaches.

Website: http://www.urbact.eu

Thematic information

Governance, partnership Education and training

Specific Objective: To improve the design of sustainable urban strategies and action plans in cities

Thematic Objective:

(11) enhancing institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders and efficient public administration through actions to strengthen the institutional capacity and the efficiency of public administrations and public services related to the implementation of the ERDF, and in support of actions under the ESF to strengthen the institutional capacity and the efficiency of public administration.

Investment Priority:

(11 ETC) ETC specific for interregional cooperation: enhancing institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders and efficient public administration by enhancing institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders and efficient public administration by disseminating good practices and expertise and capitalising on the results of the exchange of experience in relation to sustainable urban development, including urban-rural linkages pursuant to point (3)(b) of Article 2 (exchange of experience concerning the identification, transfer and dissemination of good practices in relation to sustainable urban development, including urban-rural linkages)

Partners (6)

Lead Partner: Viladecans

Address: Jaume Abril 2, 8840 Viladecans, Spain

Legal status: public

Total budget: EUR 249 366.55

ERDF budget: EUR 174 556.60

Poznań

Name: Poznań

Address: Pl, Kolegiacki 17, 61-841 Poznań, Poland

Legal status: public

Total budget: EUR 61 959.00

ERDF budget: EUR 52 665.15

Albergaria-a-velha

Name: Albergaria-a-velha

Address: Praça Comendador Ferreira Tavares, 3850-053 Albergaria-a-velha, Portugal

Legal status: public

Total budget: EUR 66 440.08

ERDF budget: EUR 56 474.07

Halmstads kommun

Name: Halmstads kommun

Address: Box 153, 301 05 Halmstad, Sweden

Legal status: public

Total budget: EUR 91 329.00

ERDF budget: EUR 63 930.30

Tallinna linn

Name: Tallinna linn

Address: Estonia pst 5a, 10143 Tallinn, Estonia

Legal status: public

Total budget: EUR 72 929.79

ERDF budget: EUR 61 990.32

City of Nantes

Name: City of Nantes

Address: 2 rue de l´Hôtel de Ville, 44094 Nantes Cédex 01 Nantes, France

Legal status: public

Total budget: EUR 71 009.00

ERDF budget: EUR 49 706.30

Partners map

Partners and Projects info

Poznań

Connecting cities through Education

Partners and Projects info

Albergaria-a-velha

Connecting cities through Education

Partners and Projects info

Halmstads kommun

Connecting cities through Education

Partners and Projects info

City of Tallinn

Connecting cities through Education

Partners and Projects info

Ville de Nantes

Connecting cities through Education

Partners and Projects info

Viladecans

Connecting cities through Education

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): Connecting cities through Education

Project acronym: ON BOARD

Project start date: 2018-04-04

Project end date: 2021-06-04

Project status: closed

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 613 033.42

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 459 322.74

Co-financing sources:

ERDF: Amount, EUR 459 322.74.

Documents

Documents on this project are listed below, and organised by category. Please note field "Data source", attached to each document. Keep.eu users are free to use these documents as long as they mention the data source and keep.eu.

Reports

Educational Innovation Network (Xarxa d’Innovació Educativa)

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: https://www.onboardproject-results.eu/

Publication date: 2023-11-21

Document date: 2017-03-31

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Studies / surveys

Educational innovation Network / Viladecans tool for educational success

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Study / survey

Data source: https://urbact.eu/networks/on-board

Publication date: 2023-11-21

Document date: 2018-10-31

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Videos / films

Educational Innovation Network in Viladecans

Attachment type: link

Type of document: Video / film

Data source: https://www.onboardproject-results.eu/

Publication date: 2023-11-21

Document date: 2019-05-29

Languages: en

ON BOARD KICK OFF MEETING & SIGNTUARE OF POLITICAL DECLARATION

Attachment type: link

Type of document: Video / film

Data source: https://www.onboardproject-results.eu/

Publication date: 2023-11-21

Document date: 2019-05-08

Languages: en

ON BOARD results

Attachment type: link

Type of document: Video / film

Data source: https://urbact.eu/networks/on-board

Publication date: 2023-11-21

Document date: 2021-05-20

Languages: en

TM2. Halmstad Video

Attachment type: link

Type of document: Video / film

Data source: https://www.onboardproject-results.eu/

Publication date: 2023-11-21

Document date: 2019-10-02

Languages: en

TM3. Albergaria-a-Velha Video

Attachment type: link

Type of document: Video / film

Data source: https://www.onboardproject-results.eu/

Publication date: 2023-11-21

Document date: 2019-11-25

Languages: en

Viladecans Good Practice - Families AMPA 2.0

Attachment type: link

Type of document: Video / film

Data source: https://www.onboardproject-results.eu/

Publication date: 2023-11-21

Document date: 2021-01-15

Languages: es, en

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2014 - 2020 URBACT III

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2023-03-28

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

88 / 88 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

716 / 716 (100%)

Notes on the data

Information provided by the Programme. Achievements were retrieved by Interact from the Programme website (http://www.urbact.eu), or a website directly linked from it, on 2021-12-13, 2023-01-03 and 2024-02-01.

Languages

Contact Form

Connecting cities through Education

Description

Thematic information

Partners (6)

Partners map

Summary

Documents

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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