The 10 most innovative schools in Spain

There are schools that, regardless of whether they are private, public or subsidized, offer their students a different educational environment that seeks not only to train them temporarily, but also hope to impress on them the desire to learn, improve and become active, creative, sensitive and, above all, prepared to face the challenges of an increasingly complex world.

We take a look at the 10 educational centers that are part of the educational vanguard of our country.

1. Padre Piquer Training Centre, Madrid.

In the heart of Madrid’s La Ventilla neighbourhood is this educational centre, which has more than a thousand students of 37 different nationalities. Since the 2003-2004 academic year, those responsible for this center have been applying cutting-edge methodologies and an innovative educational system that has managed to banish absenteeism and school failure to historic lows for the center , achieving that 85% of students finish their basic studies. In addition, the center has a very interesting program called “garage lab” that has turned basic vocational education into a digital space and the classrooms are cooperative and multitasking , allowing that, rather than studying by subjects, they study by learning areas.

2. Escola Sadako, Barcelona.

The teaching team of this Catalan school, which exchanges books for ICT, It is committed to collaborative learning and to developing the skills of its students that will allow them, in the future, to change their lives and those of others, an education based on developing “changemaker” skills. In this way, students in the primary cycles do not have individual desks. In all cycles, textbooks have been replaced by didactic itineraries and special emphasis is placed on developing emotional and social education.

3. Amara Berri School. Donosti, Guipúzcoa.

The line of work of this public centre is based on three foundations: experimentation, innovation and research. To carry them out, the educational methodology of the center has programs of cycles by age and special care is takento teach students ways to organize thinking and methods for its development, in addition to working on the self-esteem of the student and promoting teamwork. Gamification and the practical application of theoretical knowledge also play an important role.

The media have an important role, as they serve the teaching team to introduce students to real life through their own newspaper, radio and television. The school also has an assembly organization where students decide on decisions that affect the school.

4. CEIP Miralvalle. Plasencia, Cáceres.

A gesture as simple as altering the order of chairs and tables according to the subject being taught can be the first step in transforming an ordinary school into a whole learning community. To do this, it is important that the students of this center work in groups, which they do for one hour a week. In these groups, matters are discussed and ideas are debated and exchanged. To integrate the families of the students into the life of the school, literary gatherings are organized and, in other areas, readings of classics are organized.

5. San Gregorio School, Aguilar de Campoo, Palencia.

Subsidised educational centre with pupils aged 0 to 18. The aim of its teaching staff is to structure learning through active projects and methodologies. Emotional education is promoted and in primary education the Tic Heroes methodology is used, which turns students into the protagonists of their learning experience. The trend is that cooperative groups are worked on and the progress of the children is collected in the digital blogs of the students.

6. Ideo School. Madrid.

A centre marked by its open, inclusive and secular character that aims to train children to become healthy, aware and happy citizens. To achieve this goal , everything is based on cooperative work, active pedagogies and the empowerment and development of emotional education and multiple intelligences. Mainly it is expected that students seek their “own integral training”, that is, that it is the student who finds their preferences and the place that the nature of the knowledge they are learning will have in their lives.

7. Myland Educational Foundation. Seville.

Since its foundation in 2010, this educational center promoted by the foundation of the same name has been committed to the search for an educational system that differs from what is offered anywhere in Andalusia. A centre that firmly believes in the application of active pedagogy and in the continuous contact of its students with the implementation of what they are learning in a theoretical way. Experimentation and interaction with the environment and nature is one of the strengths of the education that its students receive.

8. Mare de Deu School in Monserrat. Barcelona.

Public school whose commitment is alongside significant learning, observation and comprehensibility. It alternates between individualized education and socialization and promotes the interaction between the world of children and that of adults. In order for the design of the educational curriculum of their students to be programmed and designed with care, all of them are guaranteed that when they move on to secondary education they do so in institutes with the same educational itinerary.

9. Ramón y Cajal School. Madrid.

According to those in charge, 100% of its students who take the selectivity pass the exam. This private school has 1500 students and has its own pedagogical system that enhances student skills such as emotional intelligence or cooperation that the educational team believes are essential to ensure personal and professional success, something that they are already putting into practice, and with the same objectives, in other countries of the world with great success.

10. Lauaxeta School. Amorebieta-etxano, Vizcaya.

Seeking the personal development of students so that they integrate into today’s society, so complex, and that they become citizens who can contribute improvements to it is the great objective of this educational center that has special attention to educational procedures and methodologies. Imprinting the importance of innovation in its students is extremely important and that is why courses based on their competence development are offered .

In short, all the schools on this list base their educational plans and methodologies on the concept of the active. Seeking the interaction of students with their environment, putting into practice what they have learned and offering an educational itinerary that promotes their best skills should be points in favor when choosing a center for one of our children or to find an adult center in case we need complementary training. Promoting teamwork and enhancing social skills, as well as the use of methodologies to improve the way we manage when thinking are almost as important as the absorption of knowledge in individual learning.