EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

The ADECO – Community Development Association of the Parish of Mercês, through its nursery and preschool services, has established itself as, and continues to be, a pedagogical, cultural, and social reference, with a unique identity.

Over its five decades of activity, traversing different historical moments, ADECO has become an intangible asset integrating the community, through the pedagogical practices applied in the education of hundreds of children who took their first formative steps here.

In full collaboration with families, as well as local commercial and leisure spaces, ADECO has always sought to both give and receive support from residents, collaborators, and institutions, contributing to the enrichment of the social fabric, which has undergone radical changes over time.

Due to the political and social context at the time of its foundation, ADECO adopted the Freinet pedagogical approach. However, owing to the physical characteristics of the available space and the constant reflection and desire to progress and innovate—arising largely from direct work with children—ADECO has adapted and incorporated certain practices from other pedagogical models, namely those followed in the Reggio Emilia Region (Italy) and those of the Modern School Movement.

This ongoing process of building its educational approach has led ADECO to its current reality: project-based work in open classrooms. This is a pedagogy of exchange, fostering relationships with the outside world, between the children themselves, between children and educators, with other groups of children, with the school, with families, and with the wider community.

To learn more about the implementation of our educational project for different age groups, please visit the pages dedicated to Daycare (Creche) and Preschool (Pré-escolar).