Esplais Catalans


Esplais Catalans is a non-religious and progressive association where volunteerism is our way of work to change the society. In the entity, the esplai is a citizen school for children, youth, families and leaders; a popular education way. Esplais Catalans is the result of the esplais’ and people’s willingness to have exchanging, learning and join action places. Equality, freedom, associative participation, environmental education and Children’s Rights are promoted in Esplais Catalans.
In this regard, Esplais Ctalans help the leaders with their education, organize events and promote campaigns and the creation of working commissions about relevant aspects of esplais.

Mission, vision and values

Mission

Esplais Catalans is a non-religious and progressive association where volunteerism is our way of work to change the society based in Children’s Rights and the popular education.
The strengthening and the esplai’s participation is our reason of being.

Vision

As esplais, we want to be a referent educational agent for the social change of the territory, as well as being inclusive, diverse and recognized for our educational task. To do it, Esplais Catalans promotes the non-religious, voluntary and associative place to work in our networking system, giving the best personalized attention and creating discourse shared among the association. We will obtain it through being a more participative, critical, strong and united movement established in the territory with a constant review project, beside having a few implied and formed teams.

Values

'''Education to, for and about Children’s Rights'''

Esplais Catalans’ educational project arises from the work of children, leaders and families that are part of the association, and collect our ideas and the convictions that describe our way of educating. In order to adapt our entity to the new social context and give answers based on the esplai’s real needs, the documents that constitute the Esplac’s pedagogic project are alive and are in constant evolution. For this reason, nowadays we are developing a new project that revises Esplac’s pedagogic lines.
As a non-religious and progressive association, our education task is based on the Children’s Rights. We understand the education based on Children’s Rights using an integral approach that considers the knowledge of the proper rights and responsibilities and the learning of the skills and attitudes we need to obtain a society more equal.
The game is the principal methodology of esplai, because it allows us to work values, competences and skills through a distended and entertaining way. Another great pedagogic tool includes the vacation activities, because playing in a natural environment fosters aspects like cohabitation in group, personal growth and work of values as the responsible consumption, the solidarity and the cooperation.

History

The emergence of the esplais movement was one of the most interesting and characteristic youth phenomena of the years of late Francoism and democratic recovery, an element without which it is impossible to understand contemporary Catalan society. With limited resources and starting only with the voluntary action of young leaders, the legacy of the pedagogical restoration movements at the beginning of the century and the times of the Second Republic returned to rebuild an associative fabric that had been badly damaged by the dictatorship.
Although its beginnings they were perceived as a Church movement, a proposal was soon articulated to constitute an educational project based on the principles of secularism and progress, which incorporated the discourses and methods of popular education. Over the years, esplais has proven to be a unique framework for the experimental learning of participation and democracy from the streets and squares of towns and cities across the country.

Background

Origins and background of esplais as an educational movement
The movement of the esplais has a diffuse beginning in the history, because there is not a single moment or place where they emerged, but a set of trajectories that ended up joining together in the one we know and recognize with this term. In fact, the word esplai itself has an uncertain origin, being a derivative of the concept of venting, which at the same time is a compound of the verb space with pollution or the crossing of pleasure. So, the first etymological inquiry gives us clues about the deep meaning of esplai in the linguistic field as a suitable context in which feelings are freely expressed and can be freely expressed.
Emerging  in difficult times: the esplais during the dictatorship
In Catalonia, in the first third of the twentieth century there was a long and rich tradition of pedagogical proposals that went beyond the strictly school, and in many cases aimed precisely at overcoming this because of the immobile and authoritarian elements. From the forties everything changed. Many of these initiatives had been able to germinate and mature during the years of freedom of the Republican period, but they would succumb in the new context of repression and rigid social control imposed by Franco’s regime, especially in the immediate postwar years. Education would be relegated to a pure indoctrinating function, greatly impoverishing the great wealth of experiences that existed in previous years. It would take two decades, until the beginning of the sixties, for the regime to begin a timid opening towards new forms of participation and association of a cultural and ludic type -without apparent political aims-, a crack that would be quickly exploited to give rise to a new educational proposal that from that moment would take a strong impulse and would be one of the principals social phenomena of the years of the transition to democracy: the movement of esplais.
A new beginning: the esplais and the democratic recovery
The emergence of a new democratic social framework and the convulsive period of the transition that preceded this period deeply shook Catalan and Spanish society. The death of the dictator on November 20, 1975 opened a new field of expectations that unleashed many social energies that had remained dormant during the previous decades. In this context of transition, the youth entities of the country did not wait and they became a fundamental asset of the democratic opposition.

Fundation

Introduction
On January 31, 1982, the association Esplais Catalans, Esplac, was born in Barcelona. At this time, The Assamblea Constituent is attended by 51 delegates of a total of 21 founding esplais, nine from Badalona, five from Barcelona and two from L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, and five more come from the towns of Sant Andreu de la Barca, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Rubí and Vilanova i la Geltrú. In addition, there are also representatives of five esplais that come as a listeners. Many entities are so new, with little more than one or two years of history, although there are others such as Sol Ixent or Bons Amics with a decade of experience.
Esplai founders
Arrabal, Associació de Minusvàlids de Rubí, AVIC, Bons Amics, Borinot, C.E.I.A., C.I.P. La Gatzara, Centre Juvenil de Sarrià, Chiribiripum, Cirera, Diplodocus, Estol, Melic, Natura, Santa Maria del Mar, Sol Ixent, Toti Toti, Unió, Xaloc, Xerinola, Xivarri.

'''Growth'''

Consolidating the structures: the expansion of Esplac
The increase of member organizations became notable over the years, going from the twenty foundational esplais to seventieth in 1990. The association is conscious about the need of the decentralization, a process that culminates with the creation of the geographic sectors for each of the territorial areas with esplais have presence. So, we begin to work with our own logic and to define a space for gather all esplais over the territory.
However, during the third year, the increase of esplais that wanted to be member of Esplac continued growing so it appeared the need to create a working figure called  Secretaria Tècnica to carry out administrative tasks.
The new internal reality forced the Equip de Direcció to take a new step introducing new representatives of the sectors. So, it was introduced the denomination Equip General de Sectors. Also the central figure of the General Secretariat is also reformulated, which would become a deliberated leader position, responsible for the technical Secretariat of the entity and with a great capacity for political action.
Meetings and trainings
During these years many of the most characteristic lines of action and projects of Esplais Catalans are initiated. The aim was to promote maximum exchanges among the various entities, with shared projects such as joint camps, and also by organizing large associative frameworks to strengthen links such as the Trobada General d’Esplac or Trobada de Monitores i Monitors designed to improve the educational task. Apart from these internal spaces, Esplac provided regulated training - contracted from the entity with several accredited schools - such as the courses for obtaining leader title and title of director of leisure activities. Soon the requests and the supplies were increasing to the point that over the years the need to establish a school by their own. This will end up consolidating with the formation in 1991 of the Escola Lliure El Sol, fruit of a partnership with the Fundació Ferrer i Guàrdia.
A project without borders: international modals
The will of opening and to establish links beyond its own natural space of action has always been a constant characteristics form Esplais Catalans' constant characteristic from his foundation.  In 1983, Esplac’s representatives had been part of a Catalan delegation for the foundation of the FIEEA, with the French, Italian, Tunisian and Moroccan counterparts. On the other hand, in 1986 the formalities had begun to ask the admission of an observant entity in the International Falcon Movement -Socialist Educational. Nonetheless, its definitive admission as a full right organization member did not take place until 2012, twenty-five years later.

'''Now'''

At present, the Esplais Catalans Association is formed by more than 100 esplais located in more than 70 Catalan populations. In total, there are almost 7700 children and 1800 monitors. To see updated information, visit