Required equipment: Sporty clothes, shoes, a notebook and a personal computer

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This course aims to use outdoor pedagogy as a tool of informal teaching that can be used to maintain students’ attention and to make them emotionally connected with the taught content. The Way of St. James, also known as Camino de Santiago, has been considered a European Cultural Itinerary since 1987, since it contributed to the standardization of a European identity and the cultural landscape of the continent. It connects the European continent to the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela, one of the most important sites for Christians.

 

Outdoor Education is one of the most innovative educational approaches in the current European context. We can teach and learn curricular subjects outdoors, develop social and personal skills as well as a sense of wonder and responsibility for the natural world. Based in an outdoor program located in cities where the Camino passes through, the course provides an experiential programme.

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Portugal is the stage for several routes of the Way of Saint James. The various routes of Santiago are made official through the institution Oficina do Peregrino and to do so they undergo a process of study by historians about the places where a certain route passed. As the medieval pilgrims used already existing roads, such as the Roman ones, the routes themselves are journeys through time and heritage.

 

Throughout this course we will cover the Central Way, the Torres Way, the Geira Way, the Minhoto Ribeiro Way and the Coastal Way. We will cover some kilometers of these routes, in the cities of Braga and Porto, and we will see patrimonial elements that connect us to the way, such as the legend related to the Praça de Santiago, in Guimarães, or the old pilgrims' hospital in Viana do Castelo. Get ready for a journey through time made step by step!