We are pleased to share the publication of two complementary documents that bring together the policy work developed within the Widespread School project and provide a framework for advancing Widespread Education beyond the classroom.
The first document, “Expanding Education Beyond the Classroom – Enabling Conditions for Advancing Widespread Education in European School Systems,” identifies the social, cultural, institutional and material conditions that can support the development of Widespread Education within European school systems. Drawing on the research, local workshops, fieldwork and pilot activities carried out across Italy, Croatia, Spain and Finland, the report identifies 36 enabling conditions for creating learning environments that extend beyond the traditional classroom and connect schools with their wider communities and territories.
Building on these findings, the second document, “Expanding Education Beyond the Classroom: A Roadmap for Widespread Education – Policy Recommendations for a Whole Community Approach,” translates the identified enabling conditions into 33 policy recommendations. The recommendations provide a roadmap for policymakers, school leaders and other stakeholders to support the integration of Widespread Education into school systems and strengthen collaboration between schools, local authorities, communities and other educational actors.
The recommendations are organised around ten action lines, addressing key areas such as equity and inclusion, institutional support, community engagement, governance and territorial coordination, curriculum and pedagogical integration, time and resources, administrative processes, teacher training and support, and evaluation and documentation.
The recommendations were further discussed and validated through a three-round Policy Delphi process involving experts at local and European level, helping to explore their relevance, feasibility and implementation within different educational contexts.
Together, the two documents provide a shared framework for understanding what conditions are needed and what policy actions can help make Widespread Education a sustainable part
of European school systems. They represent an important step in the Widespread School project’s work towards a Whole Community Approach, in which schools act as active nodes within wider territorial learning ecosystems.
Click on the image to access the documents.
