SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 25 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Conference on Emotional Education and Resilience organized by the Ministry of Education, Universities, Culture and Sports of the Government of the Canary Islands began on Monday in La Palma with the presence of leading national experts in this field, representatives of the educational administrations of other Autonomous Communities and members of the educational community of the Archipelago.
Its objective is to reflect on the impact of crises in classrooms, with special attention to the impact of the Cumbre Vieja eruption; and by extension, provide teaching teams with tools to deal with any extraordinary event that affects the school environment.
The counselor of the Education Department, Manuela Armas, presided over the opening ceremony and highlighted the relevance of training in values. “Education goes far beyond teaching lessons and transferring knowledge to students; the way we work in the classroom, the ideals we transmit, the way we attend to diversity, the value we give to personal and group relationships, everything This has a direct impact on future generations’ thinking, coexistence and the ability to progress in community,” he assured.
He also recalled that the Canary Islands were pioneers in this field, with the implementation, in 2014, of emotional education, through the EmoCrea subject, which in the Islands has been decided to extend from the next course, in which it enters into LOMLOE is in force, to the third cycle of Primary, becoming present in the six courses of that stage. Since the incorporation of this subject, Canarian students receive training that contributes to the development of skills, also from awareness, emotional regulation and creativity.
Armas also indicated that the Ministry accompanied the educational community of La Palma throughout the volcanic process and offered material and human assistance and teacher training in the management of feelings.
“We support the educational community with all the means at our disposal, reorganizing the groups of the centers affected by the lava flows, extending the application deadlines for university scholarships, training teachers in online teaching strategies, reorganizing the lines of school transport and with reinforcement of personnel; and together with these and other measures, the most important thing: we have accompanied”, he assured.
In this line, the Plan “Mobilizing educational responses to the volcano. Educational centers of La Palma” was launched, of emotional support for management teams, teachers and students, carried out with the department’s own resources.
The general director of Planning, Innovation and Quality, Gregorio Cabrera, alluded to the commitment of the team of the Ministry of Education with emotional education, “whose first days have been possible thanks to the commitment and involvement of the human team of its general management and the collaboration , both from the educational institutions and community of Palmas as well as from the Ministry and invited Communities; and in the same way, for the immediately favorable response of speakers and centers that communicated their experiences”.
The head of Evaluation and Territorial Cooperation of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, María Dolores López, congratulated the Canarian community, which she considers “a national benchmark in emotional education; a matter that finds support in the LOMLOE in its normative development, both in the objectives of the law as in each of its stages”.
For her part, the Minister of Health, Education and Crafts of the Cabildo de la Palma, Susana Machín, argued that one of the keys to the reconstruction of La Palma is in the educational field “and in the care and attention to schoolchildren and teachers, who have suffered an unprecedented traumatic situation”.
In her speech, the mayor of Los Llanos de Aridane, María Noelia García, highlighted to the teachers that, beyond fulfilling their duties as teachers during the volcanic crisis, they were attentive to the boys and girls in the classroom and their families, ” in a plus of responsibility that we should be grateful for”.
TECHNICAL PRESENTATIONS
The opening speech was given by the head of the Psychiatry Service of the General Hospital of the island, Félix Andrés González Lorenzo. Leading the psychotherapeutic care of the palm population during the eruption in Cumbre Vieja, he explained how, in crisis contexts, it is necessary to have understandable, rational and universally applicable ethical principles.
The psychiatrist considers that both families and Mental Health and Education services should contribute to promoting harmonious and comprehensive development in the early stages of life, so that they incorporate principles based on collective values and justice.
The meeting continued with interventions by the directors of CEO Tejeda, María Dolores Franco, and CEIP Professor Rafael Gómez Santos, Vanessa María Déniz, who recalled the fires in Gran Canaria in recent years and, especially, the one that occurred on August 9 of 2019, which generated an unprecedented display of help and solidarity in which educational centers played a major role.
