Achieving Social Cohesion in Europe through Education: A Success Story

Abstract

In Europe, to make the dream of social cohesion possible, society must take on the challenge of educational exclusion, especially for those living in particular in impoverished and marginalized neighbourhoods. Several schools and communities around Europe are already leading the kind of transformative processes that can overcome educational and social inequalities. The purpose of this chapter is to describe a successful transformation in the La Paz primary school, located in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Spain. La Milagrosa neighbourhood is located in the outskirts of Albacete, a city in south-eastern Spain. Most of the people living there are poor Roma families who have very low educational levels, higher unemployment rate and problems associated with drug addiction. The school, located in the centre of the neighbourhood called La Paz, is one of the cases being analysed in the integrated project called Strategies for Inclusion and Social Cohesion in Europe from Education (INCLUD-ED 2006–11), part of the 6th Framework Programme of the EU. Its objective is to analyse educational actions that contribute or hinder social cohesion and identify key elements that can be used to improve educational and social policy. Before implementing the project at La Paz, the school was in crisis; significant numbers of children were failing academically, and members of various social groups were in conflict. Just one year after the school implemented some of the successful educational actions (SEAs) identified in the INCLUD-ED project and discussed below, it experienced a radical transformation that has had an impact on other areas of society.