Around a hundred educators from EDUCAR Network schools in Spain took part on July 1 and 2 in the 27th Augustinian Pedagogical Conference, held at the Colegio Agustiniano Sagrado Corazón de Guadalajara. The gathering combined training, pastoral reflection, fellowship, and networking around the motto that will guide the coming school year. 
On July 1 and 2, 2026, the Colegio Agustiniano Sagrado Corazón de Guadalajara hosted the 27th edition of the Augustinian Pedagogical Conference, an event now firmly established in the Augustinian Recollect educational calendar in Spain. On this occasion, the gathering brought together around a hundred teachers from various schools in the EDUCAR Network and focused on the motto “Accompanying Towards the Truth”, which will also be the pastoral guiding thread for the coming school year in the educational centres.
The conference aimed to be a space for meeting, training, and shared reflection for the entire educational community. The proposed motto invited participants to delve deeper into accompaniment as the core of the educational and evangelising mission, from key elements of Augustinian spirituality: closeness, interiority, community, and networking. As the event presentation stated:
Educating is not only about passing on knowledge, but about accompanying people in their search for meaning, truth, and fulfilment.
The conference opened with Fray José María Sánchez, vicar of the Province of Santo Tomas de Villanueva in Spain. From there, the programme was structured into several thematic blocks that addressed accompaniment from different perspectives: community, the sustainability of the centres, leadership, care, music, the pastoral motto, and networking.
The first block, devoted to “Accompanying in community”, featured Javier Urra, psychologist, educator, writer, and the first Ombudsman for Minors of the Community of Madrid. His talk, entitled “One is born human; one becomes a person in community”, opened the reflection on the importance of educating from the community and for the community, especially in a social context that poses new challenges for children, adolescents, families, and educational centres.
The institutional and future dimension was present in the second block, “Accompanying in the future, with evangelisation as the goal”, with a talk by Javier Poveda entitled “Rethinking the economy in the service of a common mission”. From a pragmatic and strategic perspective, the session helped participants reflect on the sustainability of Catholic centres and on the need to ensure solid, realistic evangelising educational projects that are faithful to their identity.
In the afternoon, Diego Cuevas addressed the topic “Accompanying to take care of ourselves”, within the block devoted to accompaniment and leadership. His contribution emphasised listening, cooperation, socio-emotional skills, and caring for those who care.
Participants underlined the importance of working on the motto not only through attention to students, but also through the need to “take care of one another too”.
Wednesday’s day concluded with time for fellowship and a sightseeing visit to Brihuega, which allowed participants to continue sharing experiences beyond the talks. “It was an opportunity to see each other, talk, recognise one another in a shared mission, and strengthen ties between schools.”
Thursday, July 2 began with the celebration of the Eucharist in the chapel of the Colegio Agustiniano Sagrado Corazón, presided over by Fray Rafael Nieto, head director of the Colegio Agustiniano Seminario Menor de Guadalajara. Afterwards, the final block, focused specifically on “Accompanying Towards the Truth”, offered a more direct deepening of the year’s pastoral motto.
This motto expresses an intuition that is “deeply evangelical and Augustinian”: the journey of faith is made in community and has as its horizon the Truth that leads to God.
One of the happiest and most creative moments of the day was the contribution of Guillermo Duque, known as Guilleproff, a teacher, musician, and creator of educational content. His proposal, “Accompanying with music”, showed how music can become a pedagogical tool to motivate, unite, transmit values, and create a positive classroom atmosphere. He explained that he had wanted to share with teachers “the joy of being a teacher and the joy of
accompanying our students with music”, also encouraging them to create educational songs to take into the classroom. From his experience, music brings “joy”, “innovation”, and creativity, and helps children go to school happily. For him, the key is to put one’s own gifts at the service of others: “Giving from the heart until giving to the heart itself, putting gifts at the service of others and always from the joy of the Gospel”. Guille also has carried the JAR imprint since he was very young, having taken part in camps and youth ministry activities at the Parish of Ntra. Sra. de Loreto de Barajas (Madrid).
The pastoral motto was also developed by Fray Antonio Carrón in a contribution entitled “Accompanying Towards the Truth”, helping to situate the motto in the current context and in the challenges that society poses to the Augustinian Recollect school. His reflection addressed both the content of the motto and its concrete implications for teachers in the classroom.
The programme was completed with the contribution of the Management Team of RED EDUCAR Spain, under the title “Accompanying in network”, and with the closing and thanks from José Manuel Cambero, headmaster of the Colegio Agustiniano Sagrado Corazón.
At the end of the Conference, participants reflected that “these days have been lived as a formative experience, but also as a space of belonging”. One of the teachers noted that she was left especially “with the strength of the motto, which she described as “extremely powerful”, because “at this moment in society, the truth of Jesus is needed more than ever”. She also highlighted the value of being with colleagues from other schools and “feeling that we are in the same thing together”.
Those responsible for accompanying the development of the conference highlighted the diversity and richness of the content addressed: educational management, financial management, self-care, child protection, leadership, music, pastoral ministry, and accompaniment. One of them summed up the guiding thread with a central word: accompany. “More than carrying them or pulling them along, we have to accompany them”, he said, recalling that the educational mission consists in helping students grow as persons, with values, knowledge, and the ability to build their own path.
After so many years of history, the Augustinian Pedagogical Conference continues to be a strength for schools in Spain, a space to renew the educational vocation and look to the future with hope.
