THE NETWORK

UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL MEYER, AOPI, University of Florence, Meyer Foundation, Tuscany Regional School Office, IC Poliziano, Liceo Pascoli, IC Masaccio

THE PROJECT AND THE CONTEXT

The pilot project to realise the first space exclusively designed and aimed at education within hospitals is called ABF Educational Centre, and represents the 2nd step of the ABF H-Lab project.

This trial is being launched at the University Hospital Meyer in Florence – which has already seen the start of the first stage of the project in the school year 2021/2022 with the ABF Digital Lab project – and will see the creation of an Educational Centre aimed at promoting the languages of art, music and new technologies, able to welcome and enhance the educational experiences of the In-Hospital School and other entities that foster the educational processes of hospitalised children.

In particular, ABF will coordinate the activities of the centre by including – in addition to the digital workshop teacher, already present at the hospital – the figures of the art and music workshop teacher, and the facility contact person.

Within this framework, ABF also supported and promoted the realisation of the University Postgraduate School “In-hospital school. Training education and healthcare professionals” of the University of Florence with the purpose of sharing documented innovative practices both at the level of educational and teaching strategies, as well as promoting the organisational training of new professionals ready to enter hospital educational contexts.

IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITIES

The construction of a space within a paediatric hospital for education and learning constitutes the main and not taken for granted opportunity for children under medical care to develop their personal inclinations in the context of medical treatment. It is the place to discover those parts of oneself that, in the hospital setting, would not have a chance to come out or to create and form new bonds and social relationships, just like children who are not hospitalised.

The ABF Educational Centre is a place that recognises and promotes the value of a heterogeneous working group in a perspective of collaboration of all actors involved in the integral care process of children and young people. To this end, a coordination nucleus composed of the contact persons of each body involved is set up, aimed at the coherent formulation of an integrated offer of the multiple proposals guaranteed to children and young people within the space and coordinated by the ABF structure contact person.

The coordinating core of the ABF Educational Centre is responsible for:

• Identifying regular coordination and planning times for activities and experiences, organising the schedule and attendance of adults within the structure
• Defining a common dataset on participation/attendance/hours offered
• Sharing common pedagogical guidelines for educational and teaching planning
• Outlining evaluation tools, both in internal and user