Interlinguistic cultural mediation

The experience of the Padre Piquer Education Centre

Abstract

We need to be aware of the situation of the most unprotected population, migrants with few resources, a high percentage of whom are minors, which increases their defenselessness. This vulnerability places them in a disadvantaged position, which pushes us to seek their protection, so that they can participate in society on equal terms. This paper focuses on the educational field and analyses the main initiatives carried out in the Region of Madrid with the aim of effectively integrating migrant students.

To this end, some field research has been carried out by contacting the various bodies which could be implementing a programme of the above-mentioned characteristics, although it has been concluded that the offer is not very wide.  Subsequently, a special focus has been placed on the Padre Piquer Education Centre (EC) with the aim of finding out about its way of working, teaching and educating. To this end, various interviews were carried out with the different agents who make up the education community, both in person and through the exchange of emails and telephone calls (due to the health pandemic in which we are currently immersed), and several interviews were also analysed as a result of the recent visit by various media.

In this way we intend to convey to the reader the importance of such initiatives, forms of education or projects in order to achieve an inclusive education, available to all, and in which each of its subjects, mostly people of immigrant origin, counts, which is highly innovative, if we take into account its methodology, exclusive to this Centre, and its importance and value given the situation of disadvantage, discrimination and rejection to which the migrant group usually finds itself.

After meeting with the Padre Piquer EC, studying it in depth and learning about its programmes, we have come to the conclusion that this project is an extremely innovative one, if we take into account its methodology, which is exclusive to this Centre, as well as its importance and value given the situation of disadvantage, discrimination and rejection in which the migrant collective often finds itself.

For this reason, we believe that this model could help other centres in similar circumstances seeking solutions adapted to a multicultural reality, i.e. a reality in which different cultures merge and coexist.