What Schools Should Teach Us Is How to Be Effective in Our Lives!

Q:  Piotr, tell us, which are the main challenges the education system in Gdansk is confronted with?

A: First of all and most importantly, we need to work towards a mind-setting kind of change in the field of education. We need to put our students in the center, and build the whole system around them. They are not a part of the system; they are its main element.  Linked to this, there is the problem of teachers and school directors themselves that focus too much on the grading and institutional system, rather than on their students. We need leaders in education that have a vision for their school and their students, that focus on how to make them stand out, how to best prepare them for life. And another aspect of this wider challenge is related to the internal functioning of the ex-education department and of how the whole system was build. Until now, everybody’s main objective was finding the mistake. As a consequence, everything takes a lot of time because no one wants to make mistakes. If we want to change things we cannot be safe all the time. Good results should surprise us as much as our mistakes and this is valid for all the actors involved.

Q:  Can you please explain the choice of bringing together Education and Social Affairs within the same unit?

A: Indeed, this is the first time the two departments come together for a bigger purpose. Our vision is that we should provide for our citizens from the moment they are born onwards in all aspects of their life, so bridging these elements was the obvious choice.  We also strongly believe that education is the solution for many of the social problems our cities are confronted with. Education fights exclusion, fights unemployment and makes cities better places to live. If education is the foundation for change the two areas should work as one. The change we are trying to operate with this decision is of great importance. Before, the Education and Social Affairs Units used to exchange letters among them in order to deal with even the minor issue together. The focus was entirely on their internal tensions rather than on the citizen, where it should be!

Q:  Your Unit benefits from 50 % of the Municipality budget. You have the means to change a great deal the way education functions in your city. Which are your plans?

A: First of all, we need to work on the role and attitude of civil servants. We have to make it clear that they are there for and because of the citizens, it’s not the other way around.  The second big point on the agenda concerns education. The main purpose education should serve is to provide tools for self-realization, for a better life. Schools are not closed boxes where the only objective is to get good grades. Schools should prepare students for real life. Last but not least, we need to change citizens’ perception about the services we offer, about our availability and openness towards them. We need to create a network of services around them and they should know it is there and can rely on it.  To sum up, all these elements converge towards the state of happiness of our citizens. If we want our city to work, we need happy and fulfilled citizens, from all points of view!

Q:  And which role for the experience and knowledge your city gathered with My Gen@W?

A: URBACT shows you how to build networks and the two days I spent here in Tampere, visiting their projects and pilot activities, it a concrete example of that. I am talking here about networking among cities but networking also at local level. If the school is the center of our system, we should build networks around it, not close it with a “Do not disturb!” sign on it. For example, the “Me& My City” project. I find the idea of building a learning environment for 12 year old children under the shape of a small town a really powerful one. Children learn about society, working life and entrepreneurship though this full-immersion experience, where for one day they have a profession, they pay bills etc. This practice reinforces the idea that the focus should be on the learning and on the kid.  As soon as we go back home I would like to see how we can transfer this practice, and work with the Finish patent holders to help us adapt it to our curricula and so on.     To what concerns the local dynamics and the work we’ve been doing in Gdansk with My Gen@W, I believe some very important steps have already been made. Our local coordinator, Magda Skiba, has put a lot of effort in building a solid partnership for the Local Support Group. In doing so she used a lot the URBACT Method and also her background in the NGO sector and now we start seeing the results.  To give you some examples, we’re building a triple partnership between schools, business and children. The students in one of the schools involved in the project expressed their desire to work on real projects for business. In two weeks time, we will be meeting the local ITC Cluster that will propose some project ideas for the children to work on. It is the first time such a partnership is being built in Gdansk!  Another thing we’ve learned from MyGen@W, is that we don’t have to do things for young people but with young people. In the region we have a kind of reflexive system which is called the Pomeranian Network of Themes and we’ve been working on the topic of education together with children. We’ve been discussing what is vocational training, what is mentoring and their contribution to these topics has been very useful so far!

Q: And one last question. Tomorrow, when you’re back home, how would you resume to your Vice-president the experience you had here in Tampere with MyGen@W?

A: We’ve got a lot of work do to. Let’s go for it! ¹. This interview was possible thanks to the translation and support of Peter Wolkowinski, URBACT Thematic Expert. Photo credits by julien mrt on flickr

Read more: 

My generation @ Work - URBACT website

Gdansk City Profile - URBACT website