Women’s Legacy, the European project Erasmus+ KA201 of educational innovation led by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports of the Valencian Regional Government, has partnered with several publishing houses to translate the research work done by its members into textbooks aiming at including relevant women in different fields of knowledge into the school curriculum.
In particular, this initiative has resulted in a few music textbooks for secondary school students, which are available for teachers to use in their classrooms. They are Musiquem 1 and 2, published by Bromera in Valencian, and Música de otra manera, published by Edebé in Spanish. Both didactic proposals stand out because they integrate female authors and their works in the context they were produced in, and because their content emphasises gender perspective.
To achieve so, professionals and experts in book development have managed to adapt their knowledge into the student’s imaginary and to enable significant learning through the activation of key competences. For instance, Bromera has collaborated with:
- Toni Caldés Garrido, who studied clarinet with professors Vicente Romero and Josep Fuster. He has been a secondary school teacher since 2001.
- Laura Capsir Maiques, flute player and music teacher in secondary education. She has studied at ESMUC and in Paris, as well as at Universitat de València, where she got a Master’s in Musical Pedagogy.
- Maria Faubel, a secondary school teacher, percussionist, composer and songwriter, she also graduated in the Advanced Music Conservatory in Valencia, and is doing her Master’s in Hochschule für Musik Detmold.
- Ana Sánchez García, oboe player and secondary school teacher, she studies music at the Advanced Music Conservatory in Castellón de la Plana and a Master’s Degree in Teacher Training at Universitat de València.
Besides these two music textbooks, two more have been edited by Micomicona, in this case on Spanish Language and Literature. They are also addressed to secondary school students. Mila Picó, Esperanza Zaragoza, Isabel Llopis and Ana Meliá have participated in their development. They have worked on contents with a cross-cutting gender perspective, using inclusive language and avoiding stereotypes, as well as promoting active thinking and significant learning.
With all that, Women’s Legacy responds to a common European necessity: recovering cultural contributions by women and including them in educational contents, where they belong, to acknowledge their protagonist role in culture and in history, and to reestablish their social value. More publishers and teachers are working towards this goal.
