Sharing knowledge and experience

FACILITATORS:

Prof. Dr hab. Ewa Filipiak – Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Head of the Department of Didactics and Studies on the Culture of Education
Julia Czyż – student at Kazimierz Wielki University

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 15–20

DURATION: 3 hours × 7 days (i.e. modules 1–5)

LANGUAGE: English, Polish

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:

Where and when does democracy begin? In kindergarten? In the first years of school? Or only when people reach the age at which they can vote in elections?

Is there a place within institutional education for democracy as a value – and therefore for participation, justice, equality, shared decision-making, group work, cooperation, distribution of power, strengthening social roles, mutual respect, diversity and difference?

This workshop focuses on recognising the challenges of creating space for developing democratic thinking and citizenship in school, fostering a sense of agency, and reflecting on the need for education for and within democracy from early childhood, as well as on cultural barriers and limitations.

Participants will work with empirical material from participatory research conducted with children attending both traditional and alternative classes. Particular attention will be given to the possibilities of building democratic practices in the Freinet classroom.

We warmly invite participants to engage in discussion and reflection on this topic.

FACILITATORS:

Juan Fernández Platero – member of MCEP (Movimiento Cooperativo de Escuela Popular), the Freinet Movement of Spain. Member of the CA of FIMEM. Experience in psychomotricity in primary school. Studies in pedagogy.

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: maximum 30

DURATION: 3 hours per day for 7 days

LANGUAGE: Spanish, French

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:

Freinet Pedagogy facilitates cooperation through the Natural Method, which is a commitment to the complexity of life. We focus on the body and emotions and on how they foster cooperation. In a practical way, through playing and dancing, we show that the body is a necessary condition for spontaneity and cooperation. Cooperation is the basic tool of emancipation and humanization. Reflection becomes deeper because it is experienced.

METHODOLOGY:

Predominantly practical. We talk after playing, laughing and dancing. We deepen the reflection because we experience it.

FACILITATORS:

Witold Bobrowski

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: up to 15

DURATION: 3 hours per day for 7 days

LANGUAGE: Polish, English

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:

After 1989, the educational aspirations of the Kashubians in the field of their own culture, after many years of totalitarian rule, finally found the possibility of being realized. While searching for ways to pass on knowledge to students not only in the field of material culture but also spiritual culture, which includes beliefs, art, morality, laws and customs, we encountered enthusiasts of Célestin Freinet’s pedagogy. At the beginning of the development of Kashubian ethnic education, Freinet played a significant role.

Language, as a medium of communication and mutual exchange of information, is at the same time what shapes the image of the world and its understanding. One could say that the Kashubian language is what creates Kashubia. Hence its role in Kashubian regional education. Thanks to the works of Professor Kazimierz Kossak Główczewski, in which he distinguishes the “regionalization of teaching” of the past period from “regional teaching,” we moved toward teaching for freedom.

The search for a path toward regional teaching has become a “searching experience” both for teachers and for students, the burden of which we carry together in solidarity. Solidarity, as a general principle of mutual support and assistance, which has a long tradition in our society, is the main principle of our activity.

FACILITATORS:

Jose Ramon Torres Baldoví (Retired teacher, member of ICEM, with extensive experience in continuous teacher training, has already conducted various workshops in Nantes, León and Ljungskile)
M. Guadalupe Palau Monteagudo

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 20-25

DURATION: 3 hours per day for 7 days

LANGUAGE: Spanish, French

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:

Through classroom situations, we reflect on the scope of the tools of education for peace that we use in the classroom and look for ways to enrich them with knowledge of emotional intelligence.

METHODOLOGY:

A methodology of education for peace is proposed, and together we look for ways to complement it through emotional intelligence.

FACILITATORS:

Alicja Bogaczyk – special education pedagogue, psychotherapist in training, Positum MGS trainer
Magdalena Migda – clinical psychologist, psychotherapist, Positum MGS trainer

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 15

DURATION: 3 hours per day for 7 days

LANGUAGE: English, Spanish, Polish

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:

The world is diverse. We differ in needs, resources, and challenges. Our students may be neurotypical or neuro atypical. Positum MGS psychosocial games support therapists, teachers, and consultants in embracing neurotypical and neuro atypical diversity, creating spaces of freedom and solidarity.

METHODOLOGY:

Positum MGS is a group work method created by Etion Parruca – a trans cultural Positive Psychotherapy psychotherapist. He was inspired by movement games — sports designed to support children living in conflict zones. The core of Positum MGS learning lies in experiencing participation in the game — and creating it. We will move, play, experience emotions, be moved, and reflect.

FACILITATORS:

Michel Mulat – teacher of visual arts history and film/video editing, and trainer

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 5-25

DURATION: 3 hours per day for 7 days (a different basic workshop each day; possibility to stay or to change; open workshops)

LANGUAGE: French

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:

The image is becoming increasingly important in our environment, but do we take the time to look at it? Images are constantly subject to manipulation, while they are not or are too little taught. Do we know how to separate their meaning from that of the caption or the commentary that accompanies them? How can we integrate images into our teaching at all levels? This workshop will avoid theoretical discourse in order to focus on practices that we will be able to transfer to our classes.

METHODOLOGY:

Participants will be able to choose from basic workshops based on a large number of images selected and renewed each day: press photos – illustrations from novels or albums – drawings by children or adolescents. What history of visual arts should be taught? What pedagogy of images? Creation of tools for classes at all levels. Open workshops propose reports to be carried out in the immediate environment of RIDEF, advertising, sequences taken from television programs according to participants’ proposals… This long workshop will be extended on the website created for RIDEF. Integration of non-participants for financial reasons is desired via videoconference.

FACILITATORS:

Kinga Wiśniewska, Magdalena Kruszyńska, Agnieszka Jankowiak–Maik, Marzena Kędra

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 15-20

DURATION: 3 hours per day for 7 days

LANGUAGE: English, Polish

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION AND METHODOLOGY:

These are workshops for teachers that demonstrate how preschools and schools can become spaces for active engagement and for shaping a conscious, democratic society. Participants will learn methods for involving students in social life, building a culture of cooperation, and developing critical thinking and agency. The workshops combine theory with practice, inspiring educators to create a school that is open to change, grassroots initiatives, and acts of solidarity.

METHODOLOGY:

Participants will be able to choose from basic workshops based on a large number of images selected and renewed each day: press photos – illustrations from novels or albums – drawings by children or adolescents. What history of visual arts should be taught? What pedagogy of images? Creation of tools for classes at all levels. Open workshops propose reports to be carried out in the immediate environment of RIDEF, advertising, sequences taken from television programs according to participants’ proposals… This long workshop will be extended on the website created for RIDEF. Integration of non-participants for financial reasons is desired via videoconference.

FACILITATORS:

Katrien Nijs & Alessandra Bilani
Katrien and Alessandra both teach Dutch to French speaking students in Brussels. (Katrien ages 8 to 12 and Alessandra ages 15 to 18. Both Alessandra and Katrien use Freinet techniques and like to exchange about new ways to learn and to discuss and reflect about the “why” of the “how”. They are active in both Belgian Freinetmovements (Dutch and French speaking).

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: not more than 20 (we think but we can discuss if you want to open for more; adolescents are welcome to participate in our workshop; for them it will be possible to join on specific moments if they want to combine it with other activities)

DURATION: 3 hours per day for 7 days

LANGUAGE: English, French

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:

We propose to exchange, reflect and work with colleagues from several countries on the subject of foreign language learning. We will work deeply on Freinet techniques. Inspired by the Freinetpedagogy, we use Freinet techniques with our students; free text, workplan, circle time / what's new, newspaper, journal, radio, blog, movie making, free expression, correspondence, … It is exciting to adapt traditional Freinet techniques to the plurilingual situation; to our time; to our students with their needs, ideas and characteristics, … We want to reflect on what happens when a group of children and / or adults learn a language with Freinet techniques. In our long workshop we will strengthen our understanding of Freinet pedagogy in the field of languages, enriched by the contributions of each participant. It will also be possible to put ourselves in the situation of a language learner.

METHODOLOGY:

In this workshop we want to continue the work that started during the Ridef of 2022 and 2024 and in the online IFLAT meetings (International Freinet LAnguage Teachers). We will use Freinet techniques during the workshop, not only to share and learn each other's interpretation of those techniques in the different context of all the countries participating, but also as a way of organising our work during this workshop. Participants will be invited to contribute in circle time, cooperative planning, individual and group worktime… We create our working atmosphere similar to the work in a freinetclassroom. We will share material and videos from our classrooms and invite participants to bring theirs. You can also come to our workshop with a desire to learn or improve your linguistic competences in English OR French: you will receive help from ‘classmates’ when you write texts or express yourself orally in beginner’s level English or French, …. (When you are in a beginner's level for BOTH of those languages, contact us to see if your participation will be satisfying.) Everything will be translated in English and French. Adolescents are welcome to participate in our workshop (for them it will be possible to join on specific moments if they want to combine it with other activities).

FACILITATORS:

Mariola Jurkiewicz, Joanna Ryduchowska-Wrzałek

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: up to 15 (children are welcome)

DURATION: 3 hours per day for 7 days

LANGUAGE: Polish, English, French

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:

• Creating a collective performance based on participants’ personal experiences and the traditions of their countries of origin;
• Promoting tolerance, openness, and understanding;
• Strengthening the sense of community and solidarity within the group;
• Building cultural bridges through theatre.

METHODOLOGY:

• Free theatrical creativity (Freinet techniques);
• Use of theatre as an educational tool (drama);
• Seeking authenticity (Grotowski);
• Interactive social theatre (Forum theatre).

FACILITATORS:

Jakub Piasecki - teacher since 2003 (academic & high school: IT / computer science, robotics, physics, engineering and design thinking). AI specialist, LEGO Education teacher trainer, 'Learning by doing' evangelist, active archer.

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 16

DURATION: 3 hours per day for 4 days

LANGUAGE: Polish, English, Spanish

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:

In the 1920s, Célestin Freinet brought a printing press into the classroom to give students a voice and a reason to write. Today, Generative AI offers a similar revolution, but only if we steer it toward cooperation rather than consumption. This 12-hour immersive workshop, designed specifically for Freinet educators, explores AI as a tool for tâtonnement expérimental and social expression. We will demystify Large Language Models, moving from "passive users" to "active builders" who understand the ethics and mechanics of the tool. Participants will learn to use AI to augment "Free Texts," create multimodal research projects, and design individualized work plans that respect each child's pace. By the end, we will have co-created a "Digital Cooperative Manifesto" — a living example of how AI can serve a pedagogy of freedom. Our goal isn't just to use new technology, but to ensure that technology serves the child, the group, and the community.

METHODOLOGY:

The workshop will follow Freinet’s Invariants, specifically Invariant 10: "Trial and error is the natural and universal path to learning."

• Learning by Doing: We avoid long lectures. After a 15-minute conceptual "spark," participants immediately jump into "Work Corners" (individual or small group experiments with the AI).
• The Cooperative Assembly: Each session ends with a "Collective Critique" where we share what worked, what the AI "hallucinated," and how we felt about the results.
• Multimodal Expression: We use AI to bridge the gap between "Manual and Intellectual work." AI isn't just for writing; it’s for creating visuals for the class newspaper or music for a student poem.
• The "Work Plan": Participants will have a digital work plan for the 12 hours, allowing them to progress at their own pace through different AI "brevets" (skills certifications).