The School of Bakery and Pastry in Sofia (Bulgaria) stopped teaching the last week of April. For what reason? Because the teachers were in Barcelona, participating in the study visit ‘European Partnerships for Better Vocational Training’, organized by the Fundació Catalunya Voluntària, enjoying an intense learning and exchange program based on visiting various schools and organizations.
The group arrived on Sant Jordi Day, dedicating every morning to discovering the work carried out by different non-profit entities, schools, and vocational training centers, with the aim of learning to adapt their educational offer to the needs of young people with disabilities. and with learning difficulties, a situation in which the School finds itself.
The group, made up of 12 individuals, teachers, including the director and the school and psychologist, visited entities such as the FCV, the Mescladís Foundation (in Borrell), the Meritxell Adam Educational Association (in the Florida neighborhood, in Hospitalet de Llobregat) and the La Iaia Damasquina Sociocultural Association (in the Raval); the CECAC professional training center (in Vilapicina, in Nou Barris), as well as the two leading schools in the sector: the School of Pastry of Barcelona (in the Born) and the School of Bakery and the Bakers Guild of Barcelona (in the Eixample).
The teachers interacted with reference teachers from both sectors (José Romero and Toni Valls), as well as with the CECAC teachers (Ruben González), who were kind to show us their respective jobs and training offers, also share, some of its methodologies and pedagogical tools.
The group met in situ managers of NGOs in the social and training sectors, whose work needs to be made known, here and in Bulgaria (Martin Habiague and Toni Martínez). As part of the program, the group enjoyed a guided tour of the historic center, and a (required) visit to the Chocolate Museum, and participated in a culinary workshop as well.
Motivated by the group’s enormous interest in learning and communicating with their colleagues, and thanks to the invaluable help of Diana, a Spanish teacher, and Bulgarian translator, we have overcome language barriers and organized a program tailored to the needs of the School, which is the seventh vocational training center in Bulgaria with which FCV has collaborated in the last 3 years.
For more information about the activity, carried out with the support of the Erasmus + program of the European Commission and the Bulgarian National Agency, you can send an email to projectes@catalunyavoluntaria.cat
You can check the short video of the activity at this link: https://youtu.be/P7QxW5e8icU