THE NETWORK
University Hospital Meyer, AOPI, University of Florence, Meyer Foundation, Tuscany Regional School Office, IC Poliziano, Liceo Pascoli, IC Masaccio
PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND 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 saw 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 having included – 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 teaching and healthcare professional” 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.
OBJECTIVES
To offer the best educational conditions in terms of space, time and relationships:
- Spaces capable of guaranteeing organisational flexibility, accommodating multiple dimensions of experience and offering differentiated disciplinary perspectives in knowledge construction processes from 3 to 18 years of age;
- Opening and use times every day of the week, throughout the day;
- The opportunity to experience multiple and diverse educational relationships;
- Training of socio-educational personnel specialised in working in healthcare settings.
PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
| U.M | 2023 | 2022 | |
| Direct beneficiaries | no. | 250 beds per day | 250 beds per day |
| Indirect beneficiaries | no. | 600 (families and teachers) | 600 (families and teachers) |
| Time of realisation | Days | TBD | 150 |
| Degree of innovation | n/a | Pilot project | Pilot project |
| Degree of environmental sustainability | n/a | Sufficient glass structure degree of environmental sustainability | Sufficient glass structure degree of environmental sustainability |
PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESS
Stage 1: Identification identified as a pilot project to be implemented at the University Hospital Meyer as a hospital in the AOPI network in which school and educational professionals already work in synergy thanks to previous interventions by the Meyer Foundation;
Stage 2: Design by a multidisciplinary team (education specialists, lawyers, architects, engineers, administrative staff) dealing with both the spaces and each stage of the design (preliminary, educational, final and executive); activation of a participatory design process involving all the entities operating within the Hospital in the socio-educational field; partnership with USRT, University Hospital Meyer and UNIFI aimed at creating a specialisation course to train education professionals in healthcare contexts;
Stage 3: Execution of the facility construction project is managed directly by ABF thanks to an agreement with University Hospital Meyer pursuant to art. 20 of (It.) Legislative Decree no. 50/2016 (Public work realised with private funds) now Art. 56 paragraph 2 of the Public Contracts Code and supervised by the multi-disciplinary team with strict attention to adherence to project timelines and budgets; on the other hand, the activities are scheduled by an inter-institutional working group composed of representatives from ABF, University Hospital Meyer and the Meyer Foundation;
Stage 4: Evaluation using the indicators defined in the design stage;
Stage 5: Reporting through the “ABF Suite” platform, developed for the global design and management of real estate projects in Italy. Regular reports from the working group.
IMPACTS 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 relations.
