Renovar*te is a working group that aims to promote pedagogical renewal and consolidate the identity of the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences (FFCS) within the context of UCP and based on the principles of Ignatian pedagogy. The group is composed of FFCS faculty members: Ângela Sá Azevedo, coordinator; Ana Salazar; Anabela Rodrigues; Artur Ilharco Galvão; Luísa Magalhães; Fr. José Lopes, SJ; José Miguel Vilaça; and Simone Petrella.
The Renovar*te Group presents a four-year action plan, considering activities in four main areas: organisational culture, continuing education and pedagogical impact, internationalisation/collaboration with other institutions, research and research-action.
On 14 January, the Renovar*te group promoted its first team-building activity dedicated to FFCS teachers and included in the organisational culture dimension, entitled ‘Ignatian Mission 360: The Enigma of Dimensions and Values’. This activity took place at Casa da Torre, in Soutelo, and involved a group of 16 teachers.
This initiative provided participants with a collaborative learning and working experience based on the principles of Ignatian pedagogy. Throughout the morning, teachers were challenged to go through six stations of an educational journey. The journey first focused on three dimensions of the Ignatian pedagogical paradigm: context, experience and reflection. Next, three fundamental values were addressed: justice, cura personalis (caring for others) and magis (the greater good).
Organised into teams, participants faced challenges that required cooperation, communication, creativity and critical thinking. Each station invited careful reading of situations, concrete experience of complex problems, and the reflective pause necessary for conscious and informed decision-making. At the end of the journey, they gathered for a moment of joint reflection to recognise how the process they had experienced mirrors the logic of Ignatian Pedagogy: looking at the context, living the experience, pausing to reflect, and then choosing the best course of action.
This first Renovar*te activity was a significant step in strengthening collaborative work and the shared experience of Ignatian pedagogy, resulting in a very positive encounter between the teachers who participated in it.