Learning Identities

How we read, interpret, and explain things defines us. I am inclined to explain Escola Aqui as a meeting of singular learning identities. We define ourselves and recalibrate our views and considerations based on how much we are affected by others—a constant exchange of energy in the form of written and spoken ideas.

Beyond that, and in questioning academic authority, I believe that a much more truthful, engaging, and emancipated teachinglearning environment is one where everyone learns and teaches. Although establishing distinguished roles such as those of facilitator and participant should function as a helpful structure to support the group to make the most of each session, such parts do not have to become a hierarchical relationship.

That said, Escola Aqui must be a place where all who are involved have the responsibility to build the most well-balanced place/ time to voice their ideas and knowledge and listen to others. Privileged positions in the group should be acknowledged and discussed. It is fundamental to create a conscious space that is sensible to the group’s diversity and be open to changing roles as needed.

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Escola Aqui

Activation facilitated by Xayvier Haughton, Jamaica, March 2021. Ativação facilitada por Xayvier Haughton, Jamaica, março de 2021.

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The DIY School Website and Guide

My main objective with this project is for anyone who is interested to be able to apply and adapt the Escola Aqui model in their own environment. For this reason, I created a website that houses all documentation and works derived from the practices and actions that are currently running and will continue in progress indefinitely. It provides an Activation Guide and an area dedicated to the publication of facilitators’ contributions.

The website’s graphic and textual design plays upon the metaphor of assembly instruction manuals. The words in Portuguese and English are slightly mixed to cause a particular noise, but are still legible. The instructions are basic, simple, and open, seeking as much variety as possible to give space to their many possible adaptations.

I launched the website’s preliminary version at the beginning of 2021, with a few collaborations uploaded before announcing it to a larger audience.

To become an Escola Aqui member, the interested person has to attend one meeting as a participant, or propose a workshop on their own as a facilitator, following the Activation Guide. Documentation is then sent to me with the understanding that it will be shared publicly on the internet or in future exhibitions.

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Escola Aqui is an open-source project that is alive and can evolve and be transformed by others.

Escola Aqui has no teachers but facilitators.

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Escola Aqui

Activation Guide (Englsh Version). Guia de ativação (versão em inglês). Available at | Disponível em: https://carolinapaz.com/escola-activation/