Carla Dabau Padrosa

Personally speaking

Before teaching at IPS, I worked in Spain and the United States in the fields of innovation and teaching a second language. I have a Graduate Diploma in Early Childhood Education and Primary Education and a Masters in Educational Innovation and Educational Leadership from Blanquerna University. I have been a PYP teacher for 3 years, and I have finally found a way to combine my passion for designing environments (inspired by Reggio Emilia, Waldorf, and Montessori) with my teaching practice. I am excited to share my experience in innovation, creativity, and leadership, but I am also officially a designer of learning environments.

Pedagogical passions

I am an advocate of creative and design thinking through the integration of a transdisciplinary curriculum in different learning environments. I recognize that it is more important to have a good sense of self than to do well in tests. I like to offer students different ways to communicate and to build relationships with each other and with their communities. Furthermore, I feel strongly that inquiry-based learning plays an important role in sparking children’s passion and excitement in the classroom. Giving children the skills and freedom to ask questions and develop their ideas makes for a constructive and inspiring learning space and atmosphere. When children have real-life experiences, they are more engaged and motivated. The best part of working at IPS is that I am always learning along with the students, colleagues, and leadership team.

What you can expect from me

I want to develop learning environments to enable students to reconnect with the physical experience of learning. The environment should be viewed as a place that is welcoming, authentic, aesthetically pleasing, and culturally representative of the community. Moreover, the setting also embraces nature and fills it with purposeful materials. The layout of the spaces promotes relationships, communication, collaboration, and exploration through play. Materials are thoughtfully added to the environment to promote creativity, thinking and problem-solving skills, questions, experimentation, and open-ended play.

I will invest in professional development to become more knowledgeable about facilitating ideas for learning environments and provocation materials.