TOY recognised at the General Assembly of Spain’s Education Cities

The Mayor of Lleida, Àngel Ros, lead the XIII Congress of Education Cities on the 1st and 2nd of February in the Palace of Congress of “La Llotja”, Lleida. Lleida hosted the meeting because it has been the city in charge of the State Network for the last two years. The Network is made up of 184 municipalities. 

More than 250 people from 86 different cities took part in the Congress. During the two days of the congress, 28 work experiences and good practices were presented in Round Tables sessions and 19 proposals were shown in the poster exhibition
Lleida City Council, represented by Alba Royes and Blanca Moreno presented the TOY approach and the TOY-PLUS project, introducing the delegates to this innovative good practice in intergenerational learning, where older people and children learn together and derive many other benefits.
In Lleida, the goal of the TOY programme is to improve the solidarity among generations, improve social cohesion, promoting a better understanding and appreciation of behaviour related to age and the different stages of life. Another aim is to improve the quality of intergenerational activities involving children and older adults, investigate intergenerational practice, appreciating its strengths and weaknesses as well as training professionals, students and volunteers who want to work intergenerationally.
This project was presented along with other educational experiences in a round table where the audience could take part in the discussion. Most of the participants were educators and city councillors working on the concept of the ‘Educating City’.
Topics of discussion in relation to TOY were: how the project originated and the inspiration behind the project, what were the identified needs, and how the TOY team in Lleida planned and implemented the intergenerational activities in the city. There was also a lot of interest in the promotion of training and quality in IGL. Participants eagerly await the results of the piloting of the TOY Course and TOY for Quality tools, which will be taking place in the coming months.

As members of the State Network of Educating Cities, our mission will be to continue promoting quality IGL activities among the different member municipalities, with the goal that quality intergenerational practice is extended to the whole country.