Spain – Fr Miguel Ángel García: "Our priorities are integral education and employment"

09 May 2019

(ANS - Santander) - There are only 12 centers recognized in Spain as "Google Reference Schools", and two of these are Salesians: the "María Auxiliadora" of Santander and "Salesianos Estrecho" in Madrid. The "María Auxiliadora" is the first school in the autonomous region of Cantabria to have received this recognition, awarded by the computer giant "Google" to reward those schools that show a strong commitment to using technology throughout the educational environment. It is a badge that becomes a commitment to continue to focus on technology and innovation in classrooms.

The institute, in fact, offers an integral educational project in which they curate a values education to achieve harmonious human and Christian development; at the same time, they also work within an innovative project based on multilingualism, digital competence and the most successful active methodologies, such as cooperative learning and project work. Fr Miguel Ángel García Morcuende, underlines: "technology does not reinvent pedagogy, but expands its possibilities."

What are the educational levels offered by the Salesian institute?

We offer from nursery school up to secondary school, in Sciences, Human and Social Sciences and the Arts; then courses of Basic Vocational Training in Manufacturing and Assembly; medium level, in Electrical and Automatic Mechanized Installation; and advanced level, in Telecommunication and Computer Systems.

What would you say to parents who choose this school for their children?

I would tell them that we favor educational accompaniment through the constant presence of educators alongside students, their participation in the lives of young people and their willingness to be with them. The educational coverage is a guarantee of a commitment to an integral education and allows to plan the academic life in the long term. We are pioneers in measures of attention to diversity and we have the best specialists to accompany students in the different phases of their evolutionary development. Finally, it should be noted that the percentage of employment at the end of the Vocational Training courses is 100%.

What are the challenges for the future?

More than for the future, they are challenges for the present, on which we are already working. On the one hand, the construction of a curriculum based on the new profiles requested by firms. For this reason, we have implemented the Dual Training program (which integrates training in schools with training in companies). Then, our next challenge and our main commitment is to bring business realities into high school classrooms, even before the kids get to university. Finally, but not least important, we are looking for the participation of families in the center's projects and we want to design an emotional education at a general level, from the very earliest age.

Source: www.eldiariomontanes.es 

InfoANS

ANS - “Agenzia iNfo Salesiana” is a on-line almost daily publication, the communication agency of the Salesian Congregation enrolled in the Press Register of the Tibunal of Rome as n 153/2007.

This site also uses third-party cookies to improve user experience and for statistical purposes. By scrolling through this page or by clicking on any of its elements, you consent to the use of cookies. To learn more or to opt out, click "Further Information".