Who are we?

The Es Pla Education Centre was founded in August 2014 in the village of Sant Joan, Mallorca. In summer 2016 we launched our programme of geography field studies for A level, GCSE and IB students.

The Confucian proverb says: “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” After more than twenty years of educational experience, we truly believe that in order for students to really understand, they need to combine theoretical knowledge with practical experience. In our centre we adopt a methodological approach to fieldwork in order to provide a structured approach to this practical experience.

Richard Thompson is from Brighton in the UK. He has an MA in Geography from the University of St. Andrews and an M.Ed from the Open University in the UK. Over the past twenty years he has worked as a teacher in sixteen countries on four continents. He has taught various subjects in a wide variety of schools and has worked with students of all ages. Before moving to Mallorca he was the manager of a Field Studies Centre in Catalonia working with international groups of GCSE, A level and IB students.

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Catalina Gayà is from Mallorca. She has a PhD in Communication and lectures at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She has worked for twenty years as a journalist specialising in social issues and she applies anthropological research to her articles. Her column for a national newspaper appeared three times a week for three years and focused on urban issues. She has collaborated with the geography department of Newcastle University and has lectured at Oxford University. She is also a specialist in fieldwork methodology.

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