Short Course in Team-Based Educational Leadership
Cooperative Practices for Connected and Innovative Schools
Powered by Travelling U.
Team-Based Educational Leadership is a focused learning experience for school directors and educators who want to explore how teams can learn, lead, and create together. Inspired by the practices of team based leadership and the Mondragon cooperative model, this immersion is an invitation to schools already doing great work to gain new insights and practical tools to continue developing their collaborative culture.
How do we do it?
The experience moves beyond the classroom and is built on three leading ingredients:
- Direct Immersion through visits to a Cooperative School and a Cooperative University.
- Interactive Workshops to experiment with collaboration and team-based tools.
- Reflective Dialogues to explore how shared responsibility can transform your school into a more connected, innovative learning community.
Learning Goals
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Explore the principles and dynamics of cooperative and distributed leadership in education.
- Consider how leadership structures and team dynamics can support connection, dialogue, and collaboration.
- Experiment with strategies and tools to encourage team learning and co-creation in their own school contexts.
- Reflect on future-oriented leadership approaches through creative and reflective processes.
- Strengthen their understanding of how to foster educational environments grounded in trust, participation, and collective purpose.
📚
The course is designed and run by Travelling U combining experiential learning with peer-to-peer dialogue.
- Duration: 4 days
- Dates: April 13th – 16th, 2026
- Destination: Bilbao, Basque Country
- Format: On-site immersion
- Language: English
- Enrollment fee:
360€ per person
METHODOLOGY
Cooperative Learning Methodology
Our pedagogy is team-oriented and focuses on the power of "learning by doing" alongside peers. The program is composed of:
_Ecosystem Visits: Gaining first-hand insights into how cooperative teams lead and learn in both a school and university setting.
_Collaboration Workshops: Space to experiment with tools and frameworks that foster team-based dynamics and collective innovation.
_Reflective Sessions: Facilitated group dialogues to bridge the experience with your own school's unique journey.
The 4-Day Journey
- Day I. The Spirit of CooperationWe start by exploring the concept of "Leading together." We focus on the shift from individual roles to team-based leadership and set the foundations for our own collaborative group.
- Day II. Learning from the Ecosystem A day of immersion. We visit a Cooperative School to see how collaboration works in practice across different learning stages, focusing on how these teams stay connected and innovative.
- Day III. Tools for Collective Innovation A practical workshop day focused on the "Team of Teams" concept. We dive into the "how" of collaboration, experimenting with tools and strategies that support team learning, co-creation, and future-oriented thinking.
- Day IV. Reflection & Next Steps Designing the path forward. Through creative and reflective processes, we integrate the course concepts and design a future vision for fostering stronger, more connected learning communities back in your home context.
Network
The participants joining the Short Course in Team-Based Educational Leadership will be part of:
About
Travelling U
Travelling U is an educational cooperative that designs cross-cultural learning experiences based on three main pillars: collaborative learning, human-centred leadership and cooperative entrepreneurship. Travelling U co-founded and is an active collaborator in the Mondragon Team Academy World (MTA), an international network gathering currently 2500 team entrepreneurs and young change leaders all over the world.
About
Mondragon University
Mondragon University is a non-profit cooperative university in the Basque Country, established in 1997. It belongs to the MONDRAGON Corporation, with a clear human vocation and a commitment to our environment, society and time. Mondragon University embodies cooperative values in its function, learning methodology, and decision-making processes.
About
MTA
Mondragon Team Academy - MTA - is an international community of +2.500 team-entrepreneurs co-creating a global network of social innovation ecosystem Labs.
The purpose of MTA is to create an international community of passionate teampreneurs blooming to create radical positive impact glocally, together.
About
The Team
Oihane Amurrio (she/her)
Artist, educator and cultural entrepreneur specialized in the field of cooperative entrepreneurship in the arts. Oihane is the Lead Programmeme Developer in Cultural Entrepreneurship at Travelling U.
Caroline Woolard (she/her)
Artist, educator, writer and community organizer. Caroline is co-founder of Art.coop; and co-author of the books Making and Being, (Pioneer Works, 2019), Art, Engagement, Economy (onomatopee, 2020), and TRADE SCHOOL: 2009-2019.
Ana Aguirre (she/her)
Co-founder and worker-owner at TAZEBAEZ S.Coop, and Global President of the Youth Network and Youth Representative on the Board of the International Cooperative Alliance.
More about Mondragon University