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Learning Community Profile Salt Catalonia ES 2010 Information Partner name and country + team contact name Ajuntament de Salt. Catalonia. Spain Rosa Sala (rsala@salt.cat) Cristina Sibina (CSibina@salt.cat) Plataforma Educativa. Catalonia. Spain Mariona Gibert (inter1@plataformaeducativa.org) Mireia Masgrau. (mireiamasgrau@gmail.com) Coordinator Xploit Catalan group Please name and define the community you wish to approach in Xploit (the defined community will be referred to all along the questions below) SALT COMMUNITY Salt is a singular municipality in the province of Girona (Catalunya). Salt is SINGULAR, not only because a third of its small area – 6,41km2- is covered by Deveses – a special protected natural open area-, mainly as regards the impact of its three waves of migration which have lead to 30,000 inhabitants from over 79 nationalities. It’s of special importance to underline that in less than a decade – from 1999 to 2007- we face from 6% of migrants up to 43%. This situation is not easy to manage and to assimilate. It’s an experience without precedent. It’s a challenge for the local government but also for all. Main problems Density: The heart of Salt- centre- occupies 0.4 km2, with a population of 16,000 people in 2005. A really high density comparable to huge cities where coexist: 70% -80% foreigners to 20-30% locals. Housing and Public Space. It includes without being exhausted: * Non-payment of mortgages or community debts * Degradation of the state of the housing * Lack of green and leisure spaces, parking and facilities. * High mobility of the population Labour market: *The unemployment rate in the centre sector is a 25% more than the rest of the village. * Low level of education and illiteracy problems. * Social inclusion problems. Education and youth: *All public schools with a minimum of 60% of migrant students. *Arrival of children during all year. In 2009-2010, 220 scholars were incorporated in nursery and primary education and 107 in secondary education. *The foreign population of 0 to 16 years exceeds the Spanish population. *High level of school drop out: half of students do not graduate at the end of ESO (obligatory education). In 2009-2010, about 300 students who studied ESO, 150 were unable to graduate. *Almost no vocational training opportunities. Main solutions In a way, the specific HOSTING PLAN – PLA D’ACOLLIDA- which means the following programmes:

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• Space of hosting and resources. • Support Program to facilitate family reunification. • Immigrant Service (such as legal advice) • Specific program for youth, 16 to 18 regrouped • Literacy Program.

For the whole population, there are the following programmes aiming to promote coexistence and social cohesion. These are:

- Community level

• Mediation in neighbouring communities. • Program for community debts.

- Education and employment

• Job vacancies service • Employment assistance service • Pre-employment training program • INICIA, entrepreneur’s project • Commercial Mediation Program • Educational resources for young people who drop out school

- Education and leisure

• Education Mediation Program • Workshops

- Recovery of urban spaces

• Re-urbanization • Housing Office • Community grants

Please briefly describe the Xploit team in your community City council of Salt: Rosa Sala: Coordinator of Education Department Cristina Sibina: Technician of Education Department Plataforma educativa: Mariona Gibert: educator Mireia Masgrau: Coordinator the Xploit Catalan group Please describe who you believe will be involved in the Xploit Network in your community (organisation name, web and contact) We have not materialized the network yet. However, we expect to involve the following institutions: UNIVERSITAT ERAM: Mr. Jordi Márquez (head of International Relations) www.eramcollege.com HOSPITAL SANTA CATERINA: Mrs: Dolors Corominas IES VALLVERA: Mr. Dani Gelada www.iesvallvera.cat ESCOLA D’ADULTS DE SALT : Mrs. Lourdes Triadó CONSORCI DE BENESTAR SOCIAL GIRONÉS-SALT. Mrs. Cari Castillo EUSES – ESCOLA UNIVERSITARIA GARBÍ UOC

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CONSELL COMARCAL DEL GIRONÈS Resources involved Please briefly describe the resources in the community involved now or in the future in developing the profile Salt city council: Xploit will grow involving, apart of the town education department – OME- , the existing boards: A MEMBER OF TAULA LABORAL A MEMBER OF TAULA DE FORMACIÓ PER A PERSONES ADULTES A MEMBER OF TAULA DE CIUTADANIA A MEMBER OF TAULA DE SALUT Please briefly describe how these resources will plan and carry out the tasks text THEY WILL NEED TO ACT strongly COORDINATED to SUM UP EFFORTS! Please identify special resource persons that might be important to the Xploit project and might be willing to participate at different levels IT COULD BE THE SAME PEOPLE AS MENTION BEFORE and WE COULD ADD CASAL DELS INFANTS and other three sector entities. As an example SER.GI which is leading a web page regarding education in SALT. Cooperation Please describe the cooperation between the political and educational partners, and please identify challenges to this cooperation The cooperation between the political and the educational partner will be very positive and lead to a correct profile of the community. The political partner coordinates the available resources in the city. This means that we can work in a transversal way with the different sectors of the community along the project. The political and educational partners are integrated in different networks that can be useful to implement the projects actions in the territory. We hope to receive the support and the help from other resources and institutions in order to develop this first draft and to assure the quality of the project in the Catalan territory. We strongly believe the challenges we need to fight will be the needs that already exist in the community. Please describe positive and negative cooperation experiences when producing the profile Negative cooperation: As we are new in European networks, sometimes we go slower than the rest of our partners. We will do our best to improve and to learn how to work in a European environment. Sometimes, cooperation can also be difficult as we do not have money to invest. Positive cooperation: both partners have the same goals and are strongly motivated to implement the project in Salt Community as we already have a well functioned structure Please provide recommendations for the Xploit project, on which similar activities could be based A strong recommendation could be that: Salt counts on a well know educational basis, a diagnosis. So, we know what we have and what we don’t and from this

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point we can start establishing priorities. Please describe what steps the Xploit team will take to deal with the identified cooperation challenges As mention above, the first step of the Xploit team will be establishing priorities in the Salt lifelong learning field as we already know all we have. Lifelong learning in the community What kind of significant lifelong learning activities for disadvantaged citizens have been carried out or planned in the community since 2000 – what challenges did they address and who were the target groups? Escola Taller. Target group: young people aged 16 to 23. Plans ocupacionals. Lifelong learning project Casa Oficis PQPI Literacy courses Please describe lifelong learning activities of special importance to the Xploit project, and what kind of resources these activities produced in your community One of the main focus, it could be the creation of a strong Adult School. From there, we could manage all Lifelong learning activities, projects…. However…we should wait till the Xploit community starts to work. Please describe ongoing or planned major lifelong learning initiatives in the community (aims, target groups, resources involved) Catalan Language Course PQPI Literacy Programme How would the Xploit team summarize the lifelong learning experience and potentials in your community? Lifelong learning is a need. It’s absolutely part of the future of our citizens. Lifelong learning stakeholders What kind of organisations or resources are responsible for / engaged in innovative learning initiatives in the community? Mostly, public administration and third sector. We have already mentioned some of them and as also stated we are know working to engaged almost all of them in Xploit. Please describe potential or emerging power centres for innovative lifelong learning in the community At the very moment, we do not know any emerging power centre. What organisations have a strong interest in lifelong learning innovation in your community? The ones mentioned above. In summary: which are the most important lifelong learning stakeholders in your community, and how do the Xploit team intend to collaborate with them?

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The major stakeholders in our community are the ones mentioned above. However, as said, as we strongly believe that it is important to disseminate the Xploit project, we are now in our way to motivate the participation and collaboration of existing, though not mentioned, entities in the project. Lifelong learning policies, interests and visions Has any lifelong learning strategy been formulated for the community? We think that Equal Plans, Inclusion Plans, Youth Plans could also be part of a lifelong learning strategy. Are lifelong learning visions for future initiatives being developed in the community? Definitely

How would the Xploit team describe the interest in the community in interacting with European scenes and resources? Which resources and initiatives could the Xploit project relate to? Why? They are really open-minded and they consider there is a possibility to create an extraordinary net, because it’s sharing when the best ideas come out. Social and educational needs Please describe the major social challenges in your community The main have been described above. Please describe the major educational challenges in your community Of special significance it is the last study made by Casal dels Infants. (view) - Difficulties in order to integrate and maintain some profiles of young people in the educational and labour world. Target group affected: Children at risk; youth in school-age period; migrants; women. There is a big gap between the methodologies used at school and the needs of the students. This provokes the drop out of school of many students putting in risk their social integration. The city is making an effort in order to find solutions to integrate these teenagers, but it is still not enough. - Illiteracy and ignorance of the language Target group affected: migrants, young people and women The majority of the young migrants have many difficulties to be integrated in the educational system, especially because of the language and illiteracy and the lack of support from the parents. Most of the young migrants around 16 years arriving in Salt have several difficulties because can not have access to the educational sector or to the labour market and are not aware about their possibilities or don’t speak the official language. - Demographic pressure and permanent mobility of learners. Target group affected: children at risk, learners with special learning needs Demographic pressure concentrated in primary school and permanent mobility of learners in all educational centres damaged educational quality and causes “stress” in the educational community.

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-Lack of training among the adult population Target group affected: migrants in general, women specifically The need of training among adult population increases with the crisis There is not enough adult educational offer in order to cover the existing demand. -Lack of structured resources for leisure and extracurricular activities Target group affected: people between 0-18 and migrants. - Lack of participation and involvement in educational structures by families Target group affected: families Difficulty of communication and relationship to generate a work between families/home and school in front the child education challenge.

Which social and educational needs would the Xploit team consider the most important to the Xploit project? Educational: Drop out of school of many children and youth. Structured resources for extra activities. Social inclusion Labour demand Please describe social and educational challenges not in any way (or in a very weak way) met by appropriate initiatives in the community The programs and plans mentioned above are possible answers offered by the administrations and the private entities in order to solve the social and educational needs and challenges presents in the community of Salt. Disadvantaged groups of citizens Please describe the most important groups of disadvantaged citizens in your community -People and families with economical difficulties. These are: elderly people, disabled people, immigrant families and single parent families. Also, families with many debts ‘cause by employment. Despite the economical help given by the State, this situation lead to really serious poverty cases. Example: Caritas registered an exponential increase of food demand by people and families during 2010. -Foreign people with difficulties for integration There barriers for integration are: lack of training, cultural differences, illiteracy, difficulties to access the labour market. The great diversity in Salt community brings many challenges especially in the educational, healthcare and housing fields. - Youth population with difficulties to access the educational system and the labour market There is a big difference between school methodologies and needs of learners. This provokes the drop out of school of many students which puts in risk their social integration. - People with labour market integration difficulties In this group we can find especially people at social risk as immigrants, women and disable people. With the crisis this group is increasing including also people over 50 with low levels of training.

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-Single parent families: many families separated because of the crisis, men leaving home. This group is at risk due to the economical difficulties, the problems to balance family life and a job, the lack of social needs and family support. -Disable people This group faces several problems in all fields: labour market integration, training, health, relationships network, etc. This group has low economical resources. Please identify disadvantaged groups for whom no social or learning initiatives have been taken Which of these groups would the Xploit team find most relevant to the Xploit project and the exploitation of European learning resources? Youth population with difficulties to access the educational system and the labour market. Please describe to what extend the (planned or established) local Xploit Network could give access to the groups identified as the most important/relevant? We hope to include in the network, most relevant resources working in the community. Through these resources we may identify the target groups that will be involved. Social-economic situation Please briefly summarize the community’s socio-economic situation and major challenges As described in previous questions. Can closing sectors and labour markets be identified? How does this produce or affect groups of disadvantaged citizens? Closing sectors: -Building sector -Industrial sector That created a high number of unemployed people with low levels of education and with many difficulties to get back in the labour market or shift sector. Can emerging sectors be identified? What might be the relevance of these sectors for disadvantaged citizens? Emerging sectors: new opportunities, new entrepreneurship -Care sector -Logistic -Environment quality and prevention -ICT -Small entrepreneurship (kinder gardens…)

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Future forecast: which are the most needed skills and competences in the future in your community? Are initiatives being taken to meet these challenges? We are on it: identifying Care sector is a good example Please describe to what extend the (planned or established) local Xploit Network “covers” the identified present and future scenarios It will try to cover all, to be the best approach. Summary: Community SWOT Please briefly summarize the community strengths 79 NACIONALITIES Please summarize the community weaknesses 79 NACIONALITIES Please summarize the community opportunities 79 NACIONALITIES Please summarize the community threats A STRONG CITIZENSHIP IN ALL FIELDS, BEING LIFELONG LEARNING A FOCUS!!!