The innovation and education binomial is debated at the annual ETEN congress organised by UVic

Starting this Thursday and continuing until Saturday, the UVic will host the annual meeting of the ETEN (European Teacher Education Network), an international network in the education field of which the Faculty of Education, Translation and Human Sciences (FETCH) is a member. The congress brings together 200 people from 25 different countries and around seventy institutions linked to teacher training from all over the world. Its objective is to exchange experiences, promote joint research initiatives and to create opportunities for cooperation, exchange or publication, with the binomial of innovation and education as the central theme.

The congress began in the Aula Magna on Thursday afternoon, with an opening ceremony chaired by the rector of the UVic-UCC, Josep-Eladi Baños, who described the ETEN as a "forum for sharing European educators' visions, needs and perspectives" and collaboration networks as a "natural continuation" of the training for teachers and social educators at our university. The rector said he was convinced that international relations are "an inescapable need in a world that is increasingly interconnected and in which we need each other and have to work collaboratively to an increasing extent." The event was also attended by the vice-rector for International Relations, Joan Masnou, the dean of the FETCH, Eduard Ramírez, the coordinator of the congress, Anna Vallbona, and the president and vice-president of the network, Maria Svensson and Karine Hindrix.

The first day of the congress ended with a lecture by Llorenç Comajoan, the coordinator of the research group on Education, Language and Literature (GRELL) at the UVic-UCC, on trends and challenges in language learning in the Catalan educational system. Earlier, on Wednesday and Thursday morning 32 visiting lecturers from various European universities gave workshops and lectures to students at the University.

13 themed interest groups

On Friday and Saturday, the central core of the congress involved work organised in 13 themed interest groups, divided into different cross-disciplinary areas of education: art, creative storytelling, technology, identity and diversity, internationalisation, language, maths, play and movement, thought, science and technology, special educational needs and urban education. One of these groups, on language education, is coordinated by Anna Vallbona, with Karmen Johansson from the University of Gothenburg. All those attending registered and participated in one of the groups based on their expertise and interests.

On Friday, the participants also had the opportunity to visit leading schools and centres in Vic and the Osona region to see how they operate. The schools chosen were La Sínia, Salarich and Sant Miquel dels Sants, in Vic, Les Pinediques in Taradell and Bellpuig in Sant Julià de Vilatorta - the latter two because of their cooperative approach. There was also a visit to the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Vic, where its relationship with the surrounding schools was explained, and its links with the "Art and School" project that is carried out each year. Those attending the congress also had the chance to visit the FETCH and the practical laboratory for Montessori teaching at the UVic, and to take part in cultural visits to the surrounding area.