A high-level international scientific journal has recently published an article documenting the successful case of a pioneering protocol for the prevention of violence in a non-university adult education centre.
It is the Verneda-Sant Martí Adult School, created in 1978 in Barcelona. This adult school implements Successful Educational Actions (SEA) and was the first school as Learning Community. The school emerged in a context of neighbourhood movements and has a long history of community engagement. Based on the principles of dialogic learning (Flecha, 1997/2000), this school carries out educational actions that the community identifies as necessary in a democratic and egalitarian manner in co-creation with all participants and based on the actions that science has shown to have an impact on the improvement of learning and social cohesion.
Within this framework, a protocol was implemented for the prevention of gender-based violence and any other type of violence, the first known in the world in a non-university adult education school. However, prevention and action against violence in this adult education school did not begin with the establishment of its written protocol in the early 2000s. From its inception in 1978, the school acted to be a space free of violence.
The actions implemented within the framework of this protocol are only those that the international scientific community has proven to be successful in preventing violence. A central aspect of this protocol is its firm stance in supporting all victims by promoting actions that protect them and their supporters. Taking action against Isolating Gender Violence (IGV), that which is exercised against the people who protect the victims, is a fundamental part of this protocol. Another aspect highlighted of this protocol is that it contributes to the fact that people who witness a violent act [bystanders] become people who act to prevent or eradicate such violence [upstanders] and are not mere observers.
This protocol has been created with the participation of the whole community, ensuring the inclusion of the diversity of voices. The co-creation including the ‘other women’ who are those without higher education (Puigvert, 2001) has been a prominent element of all the processes of this protocol. During the co-creation and implementation of the protocol, the participation of non-academic women in an egalitarian dialogue with researchers, educators and collaborators has allowed for a better response to the reality of the situations that may arise. In addition, their role has been fundamental in the dissemination of the protocol, ensuring that it is known not only within the school, but also in the neighbourhood, other schools and various associations.
This protocol, internationally recognised for its success in the prevention of gender violence and all types of violence, reflects the position of the people at the Verneda-Sant Martí Adult School who act to achieve violence-free environments that are already a reality and can be so throughout the world.
Co-Coordinator of the Verneda Sant Martí Learning Community
Full Professor at the University of Barcelona. Top 3 researcher in Google Scholar Scientific ranking in the category of "Safeguarding" and 4th in "Gender Violence"
Predoctoral researcher at the University of Barcelona