Voices Inside Schools - La Verneda-Sant Martí: A School Where People Dare to Dream

Abstract

In this article, Montse Sánchez Aroca describes the philosophy, activities, and achievments of La Verneda-Sant Martí, a school for adults in Barcelona, Spain, where Sánchez has taught for ten years. Started as a grassroots project, La Verneda is exceptional as a school for adult education because of the level of involvement of the adults and the democratic process by which students (who refer to themselves as participants), teachers, volunteers, and community members take part in the school's decisionmaking process. Learning and creating are the responsibility of and for the benefit of the entire school community. This is accomplished through egalitarian dialogue, in which everything is discussed and decided collectively; there is no hierarchy in the school's structure. Sánchez illustrates why people in La Verneda say that the school is the realization of a dream. As an example, she describes how students with little formal schooling organize literary circles where they read books by authors such as James Joyce, and invite the best writers in the country to their gatherings. They also create associations that make their voices heard at the educational policymaking level. Some of the students at La Verneda go on to receive university degrees and become highly qualified professionals. Sánchez's descriptions and examples clearly present La Verneda as an example of an emancipatory school for adult education.