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Felipe Segovia Foundation
Felipe Segovia Olmo (1936-2013) began his career in teaching in 1954 teaching at the San Estanislao de Kostka school on Calle Atocha in Madrid, under the management of his parents, Felipe Segovia Martínez and Carmen Olmo Mancebo.
His forward-thinking educational ideas and the scale of his life's work, with the founding of 19 SEK Schools in 9 countries and Camilo José Cela University, has led him to be considered a leading light in the recent history of education.
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His life's work was acknowledged by the awarding of the Gold Medal for Work Merit and the Grand Cross of Alfonso X the Wise, among other distinctions. The mission of the Felipe Segovia Foundation is to preserve his intellectual legacy and to promote the educational thinking and ideals that inspire the work of our Group's founder.
The Foundation, born of these ideals, the SEK ethos, values and principles, aspires to promote educational excellence, innovative teaching, quality learning, and freedom and dignity, with the vocation of service to society overall.
The Foundation is at the heart of our educational community, a limitless source of inspiration and stimuli to continue with the vast creative work of Felipe Segovia.
Felipe Segovia was a man ahead of his times.
Ricardo Díaz Hochleitner President of Club de Roma
The Felipe Segovia Foundation's work is student-centred and is based on the following axes:
Freedom and education
Felipe Segovia's thinking and work in education are rooted in respect for the dignity and freedom of mankind. Moreover, for over half a century he was a strong advocate for freedom in all its forms: The freedom for each student and teacher to pursue personal perfection; freedom of parents to choose the teaching model that best suited their ideals and the freedom to create free and independent educational centres. Schools that were free from any ties to public authorities and economic or religious groups, thus leading to the creation of a unique and one-of-a-kind educational project.
The programme of activities by the Felipe Segovia Foundation featured in this chapter includes the creation of an observatory on financing models for the education sector; an analysis of education systems that favour freedom and diversity in teaching projects and research into private, social and business participation in the education sector.
Educational research and innovation
A constant in the life and work of Felipe Segovia was his vocation for innovation in all aspects of education. Aspects tackled by this reformist perspective included the school space; the use of resources for the teaching process; the change in methods; the new role of teachers and students; organisation and leadership of schools and redesigning the curriculum. His illustrious vision of an educational model ahead of its time and extending beyond the limits of the conventional classroom led to innovative educational experiences such as the first technology applied to education in the 60s, the construction of cutting-edge schools, open-space classrooms, the introduction in Spain of the International Baccalaureate, the recasting of quality standards for continuous improvements at schools and the Intelligent Classroom in 1995.
The Felipe Segovia Foundation Education Research and Innovation Area aims to foster and celebrate innovation initiatives in Spain and abroad that lead to significant improvements in students' learning experiences. The Foundation presents awards for best teaching practices and grants to applied research projects. The Foundation hosted the Global Education Forum, a space for reflection and debate on the necessary transformation of the education system, in order to encourage participation by all social agents.
Dignifying teaching and learning leadership
Over his entire professional career, Felipe Segovia was above all else, a teacher. Therefore, he tackled the rethinking of teaching from an effective and applied perspective. In order to channel his concerns on the improvement of the education system, and secure in his conviction that teachers should be the main agents of this change, he developed new initiatives aimed at the professionalisation of teaching, defining a new role for teachers in the classroom and the school management team. Other notable works included the publication of Didascalia, the first education research journal to be published in Spain, and the organisation of many conventions, symposiums and congresses on education, as well as opening the SEK Teacher Training centre, among other initiatives. The School of Education of Camilo José Cela University represents the high point in a long career in teaching training and innovation.
In order to contribute to the perfecting of teaching, the Felipe Segovia Foundation aspires to create professional learning community that acknowledges and recognises best practices in the classroom with the awarding of specialisation grants in Spain and abroad and the creation of university chairs devoted to the improvement of foundation teacher training courses and those of school management teams.
The keystone of this work is the nurturing of humanities as the meeting point between culture and education.
The Felipe Segovia Foundation serves SEK Education Group and society, through its initiatives in favour of the participation of civil society in the educational sector, transforming the system, education and the acknowledgement of the importance of teaching professionals.
Please see the book Felipe Segovia Olmo. Pensamiento y obra educativa at
www.aprendereneltercermilenio.sek.es
Please see Fundación Felipe Segovia at
www.aprendereneltercermilenio.sek.es
Felipe Segovia Foundation at www.ffsegovia.org
For further information, readers are encouraged to see the documents of interest by scanning the QR codes at www.aprendereneltercermilenio.sek.es
