A new concept of education lands in Barcelona. It is the conscious school Terra, founded by the entrepreneur Borja Vilaseca. Next September it opens its doors for I3, I4 and I5 courses. That is, for children between 3 and 5 years old. Over the next few years it will open for the rest of the primary, secondary and baccalaureate courses. The school is located on a 1,800m2 plot of land on Avinguda de Mossèn Jacint Verdaguer, 60, in the center of Valldoreix (Barcelona). It has been approved by the Department of Education of the Generalitat de Catalunya, thus guaranteeing that its studies are officially recognized.
"Terra is the culmination of a collective effort to transform educators and, therefore, education," Vilaseca explains. "Our team is made up of pedagogues with extensive experience, passionate teacher educators, conscientious parents, experienced managers of innovative schools and investors committed to the medium and long term." Together they have been developing their own pedagogy since 2016: based on the 11 dimensions of conscious education, which integrates and expands the current curriculum, enabling children to develop fully in all areas of life.
.jpg?width=1536&height=1459&name=Planta_Terra-1536x1459%20(1).jpg)
"The first three dimensions (spiritual, corporal and emotional) are inward-looking; they put their focus on the student's self-knowledge, so that he or she learns to take care of his or her body, cultivate his or her mind and connect with his or her spirit," Vilaseca explains. "The other eight dimensions (social, communicative, artistic, scientific, entrepreneurial, financial, technological and ecological) are outward; they focus on their ability to relate to others, society, the new labor market, the planet and, in short, to existence," says the founder of Terra.
For her part, the director of the Terra school, Emma Henríquez, maintains that "conscious education respects and promotes the uniqueness of each child, fostering an integral development that allows them to discover who they truly are and what their authentic purpose is". She adds: "It not only prepares them for life, but also provides them with the tools to adapt and thrive in the new job market. Our pedagogical commitment is that when they finish their schooling, our students will be very well prepared -both emotionally and intellectually- to face the challenges of the 21st century".
Values of our school
Henríquez highlights the following:
1)Transformed teachers.
In Terra, teachers are called "accompaniers". Essentially because their educational function is to accompany children so that they grow and flourish naturally at their own pace. All the teachers at this school are conscious people who deeply love what they do and are true experts in conscious education. In fact, all of them have gone through a process of self-knowledge and personal transformation in order to be able to exercise their role with true consciousness. Among other training, all of them will have to take the Master in Personal Development and Leadership, as well as the Master in Terra Pedagogy, both from the Kuestiona educational community.
2) Trilingual education.
Students interact with three adults of reference, each of whom is a native speaker of one of the three languages, Spanish, Catalan or English, giving equal importance to each of these three languages on a daily basis. 50% of them are native English speakers.
3) Mixed age groups:
Throughout the school week, each learning group is grouped with others of heterogeneous ages, so that everyone can learn from everyone else. Thus, the first year they are the youngest in the class, the second year the middle and the third year the oldest. This type of grouping favors flexibility and resilience, as well as their empathy and spirit of collaboration.
4) Small student ratios.
Each group of 20 students has two reference assistants and two assistants for every three groups, which guarantees personalized attention. The objective is to be able to offer an education of real quality.
5) Active methodologies.
Terra's methodology is inspired by the legacy of great innovative educators such as Maria Montessori, Bernard Aucouturier, Loris Malaguzzi, Arno Stern, Howard Gardner, Herbert Hagstedt, Dylan William and Reggio Emilia, among others. This school employs an integral and transversal approach that develops both the left and right hemispheres, encouraging the cultivation of body, mind and spirit. All of this is based on active methodologies that combine different accompaniment strategies, placing children and young people at the center of their own learning. This process is carried out in a collaborative way, generating rich learning experiences that are applied to real life. In this way, they encourage levels of autonomy corresponding to the possibilities of each student.
6) Formative evaluations.
The Terra school focuses on the educational process and not only on the result. In fact, it measures the progress of each child in a qualitative way through different tools such as self-evaluation (to themselves), co-evaluation (among peers) and heteroevaluation (from companions and families). In turn, the pedagogical practice carried out by teachers is also subject to evaluation. It is, therefore, a 360º evaluation. By means of this conscious observation, the teachers detect the intrinsic motivation of each student, as well as his or her strengths and innate qualities related to each area of life. The goal is for each child to grow and evolve into the best version of him/herself.
7)Dynamic governance.
Another novelty of this educational community is that they employ dynamic governance, whereby all stakeholders have a voice and are heard when deciding on how to improve the school's daily life, including the children themselves. This cultivates a participatory, collaborative and democratic mindset.
8) Scholarships for students.
Terra is a private school, and therefore enjoys academic freedom. Since the team is committed to being a school for all, in 2021 they created the Utópika Foundation with the aim of receiving donations with which to provide scholarships to students. In fact, in 2024 they finally received an important donation from a patron, thanks to which they will be able to provide scholarships to dozens of students.
9) Sustainable architecture.
The architecture of the Terra school is totally innovative and is led by architect Toni Gironés, an expert in the design of sustainable spaces that are fully integrated with the natural ecosystem in which they are created. "The school has been conceived as a nest that extends its activity and interacts with the surrounding environment," explains Gironés. "We have interpreted the trees and vegetation as part of their natural habitat. Likewise, the different educational cycles develop from the roots and ascend through the different floors of the building in parallel to the growth of the trees. It is through dynamics such as this that we propose a way of living that is conscious and coherent with the environment of which we are a part," he concludes.
"Our goal is not to create schools, but to transform education," says Terra's CEO, Juan de Olano. "Over the next few years we want to franchise our pedagogy, creating an international and interconnected network of Terra schools," he adds. This is the reason why, in addition to creating the first location in Valldoreix, the team is already in talks to open other centers in different cities around the world.
They also want to license their pedagogical software to private, charter and public industrial schools, so that these start their necessary process of change and transformation, adopting the pillars of conscious education with their respective brands. And obviously, to continue (trans)training fathers, mothers and educators through the trainings developed by the community of self-knowledge Kuestiona. As Nelson Mandela said: "Education is the most powerful weapon to change the world".
Terra and Kuestiona are the first two projects promoted by the conscious education hub Utópika Labs, which recently closed its first round of investment, raising 1.6 million euros. This is the culmination of Borja Vilaseca's 18 years of entrepreneurial career, as well as his management team composed of other social impact entrepreneurs. Among its investors, the founder of the Desigual brand, Thomas Meyer, stands out. "After many years of passionate work, we have earned the trust of prestigious investors and funds, with whom we hope to realize our vision of transforming the education system," concludes Vilaseca.
