‘These are Our Beans’: Learning by Doing, Innovation and Resilience in Old Havana's Escuela Taller

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/intejcubastud.11.2.0247
• Published date: 01 December 2019
• Date: 01 December 2019
• Pages: 247-269
• Author: Elizabeth A. Gilblom
• Subject Matter: Cuba,cultural heritage,vocational education,community-based learning,restoration,urban education

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ACADEMIC ARTICLE

‘THESE ARE OUR BEANS’: LEARNING BY

DOING, INNOVATION AND RESILIENCE IN

OLD HAVANA’S ESCUELA TALLER

Elizabeth A. Gilblom1

North Dakota State University, USA

Abstract

This qualitative study explores the perceptions and experiences of 18 current students

and graduates of Escuela Taller ‘Gaspar de Melchor de Jovellanos’, a two-year cultural

heritage restoration programme located in Old Havana, Cuba. The researcher investigated

the participants’ perceptions and experiences of ‘Aprender Haciendo’, the pedagogical

approach of Escuelas Taller that combines theory with practice. Additionally, students

and graduates described the challenges they faced while learning how to restore cultural

heritage and they provided the ways in which they overcome these barriers. Specifically,

innovation and resilience are used to overcome the lack and cost of resources. Finally,

Escuelas Taller as a formal community-based learning programme is discussed.

Keywords: Cuba, cultural heritage, vocational education, community-based learning,

restoration, urban education

Background

This section offers a detailed examination of Escuelas Taller, or the Workshop

Schools. While Escuelas Taller is known throughout Europe and Latin America,

1 Elizabeth A. Gilblom, PhD is an assistant professor in Education Doctoral Programmes

at North Dakota State University. She received her PhD in urban education with a spe-

cialisation in adult, continuing, and higher education from Cleveland State University.

Her research interests include privatisation in education, geographic information sys-

tems, community-based education and adult education.

248 ACADEMIC ARTICLE – ELIZABETH A. GILBLOM

InternatIonal Journal of Cuban StudIeS 11.2 WInter 2019

this programme is relatively unknown in the United States. Most information

about Escuelas Taller exists only in Spanish language publications produced by

the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID)

and the Latin American Workshop School Network (Red De Escuelas Taller de

America Latina). Some Escuelas Taller provide information about their schools

on Facebook or on the school’s website. Occasionally, local newspapers publish

stories about their local Escuela Taller. Therefore, much of the information used

to produce this overview was translated from Spanish to English. This back-

ground section contains information collected from AECID publications, the

Latin American Workshop School Network publications, published interviews,

international newspaper articles and from interviews conducted with partici-

pants in Old Havana, Cuba.

Escuelas Taller – The ‘Workshop Schools’

Escuelas Taller (ET) are two-year training centres located throughout Latin

America, Africa and Europe that offer free skilled-training programmes for

unemployed individuals between the ages of 16–25 years (AECID 2015). The

objective of ET is to equip young people with the specialised skills necessary to

conserve and/or restore the historic, artistic, cultural heritage in their local com-

munities (AECID 2015; Red de Escuelas Taller de America Latina 2015).

Through a practical, hands-on application approach, students learn a traditional

trade, such as ironwork, mural restoration, and carpentry, and most students

find permanent employment and socioeconomic stability after graduation.

The trades offered by an ET are directly related to the needs of the historic

area in which the school is located. Common specialisations include archaeol-

ogy, general restoration, masonry, carpentry, ironwork, glasswork and plaster-

work. However, depending on the conservation and restoration needs of the

physical heritage, or what is commonly referred to as built heritage, students

may also specialise in specialisations such as mural painting, tourism, baking

and cooking, handicrafts, furniture restoration and gardening. Students who

restore buildings or historic objects learn how to complete a full investigation of

the building or object that requires conservation or restoration. They investigate

the style of the object and the materials and restoration techniques required to

complete the restoration. Once the investigation is complete, the student per-

forms the restoration using the essential materials and necessary techniques.

The individuals who attend ET are typically described in publications by

government entities as people who would rather learn a trade than continue

in the formal education system. Students are generally viewed as marginalised

youth who lack education, training and/or job opportunities. AECID, the