In Basque public schools, teachers play a fundamental role in the management of diversity. They have had to reinvent their way of doing their work in recent years. Public schools seem to me to be laboratories to explore what it is to be a person in a more complex world. Teachers have no lack of imagination: moving students, mixing, fostering relationships... students transform classrooms into environments to create new global conceptions. However, we are aware that access to basic public services is not enough and of the importance of establishing meaningful relationships for a more active participation in society, for a better life. Perhaps guided by this idea, on Friday (May 31) some parents celebrated the day of inclusion in our school. The Maghreb parents shared the candy in their kitchen, the Basques dynamized rural sports, the sub-Saharan peoples decorated their hair to the children, a basketball game was played in wheelchairs… The mix given in the classroom left the room and excuses emerged to start talking to the “other” that is not common in the relationships, especially between the parents.
Fortunately, diversity is being strengthened in other areas of public education, such as technologies. At the last Moodle Moot Euskadi Meeting, the Berritzegune Nagusia shared good news related to the multisin: IRADI project, a free software-based online learning platform that the Basque Government Department of Education will offer to public centres. It is still in the development phase and, like all the tools, it will require constant innovation and work to adapt properly to the day-to-day situation of the centres. But it's very important news because student data will be stored on government servers and will protect children and families from private companies that can promote algorithmic exclusion to meet their economic interests. It will also boost the entire education system technologically. On 2 June the festival of the Basque Public School was held, the public is here! And keep it that way!