I invite readers to reflect on active methodologies, protagonistic education, dialogue, the student at the center of the process, and metacognition. To guide this reflection, I would like to present the innovations of a prestigious, century-old Jewish school in the southern part of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. In accordance with Jewish precepts, this institution  interprets the changes in the Diaspora community in which it exists and understands that schools are essential tools for shaping citizens who live and interact within the dynamics of society. Based on daily evidence that schools are formative spaces that must provide environments conducive to building knowledge and must be increasingly innovative and transformative, capable of preparing citizens for the demands of the future, the school’s administration recognizes that the time for transformation has arrived.

The changes brought about by the 20th century have highlighted the need for a new school structure, where the importance of student agency, teachers as central figures in the process, and the need to foster student engagement and responsibility are recognized. Through strategic planning, active methodologies, the development of entrepreneurship, and strong commitment, the school embarks on a journey of educational reinvention. The challenge of understanding modern society while preserving cultural, religious, and identity-related aspects has been identified as a pressing need. Therefore, the objective of this work is to present the connection between the movement to redefine education in the 21st century, the effort to maintain and revitalize the institution’s image within Gaúcha society, and the principles and precepts of Martin Buber. The goal is to highlight the points of convergence between school structure, pedagogical methodology, educator-student relationships, and the transmission of Jewish heritage, linking Buber’s ideas with those of philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, which serve as the foundation for the methodological choices shaping the institution’s new pedagogical structure.

At the outset it should be noted that the curriculum within this educational environment offers a pluralistic experience of Judaism, fostering the development of student agency, personalized learning paths, and adaptability in a world characterized by exponential change in the 21st century. In this era of rapid transformations and increasingly fluid interpersonal connections, schools have the responsibility to implement methodologies that ignite students’ desire to learn and that empower them to become agents of social change. These societal shifts have necessitated a redefinition of the school structure, emphasizing student agency, teachers as facilitators of learning, and a culture of student engagement and responsibility.

This analysis raises several fundamental questions that shape the strategies and innovations being pursued, including the following: Is the type of innovation that 21st-century society seeks reflected in this new school structure? Does the education and formation that Jewish families—and other families—are looking for align with the structural design guiding these changes? How should these transformations be implemented? Which strategies should be adopted to maintain or modify the existing framework? What new paths should be explored? Who will lead this journey? What sources of inspiration should guide the process? Is there an existing model similar to the envisioned transformation? Are there Jewish schools that can serve as references? Should the school develop its own strategic design? With these questions in mind, the institution continues to move forward, strategically shaping its next steps with a forward-looking perspective, while remaining anchored in tradition.

It is essential to reflect on the possibilities for reimagining educational models and institutions, fostering the creation and transformation of relationships within the learning environment. Grounded in a vision of education that is both innovative and capable of preparing young people for the future through a socio-affective curriculum that fosters holistic and systemic development, schools must aspire to meaningful change. Educational institutions must mobilize, reflect, and determine what should be preserved and what must be restructured—always guided by Jewish precepts and the deliberate intention of safeguarding Jewish identity, nurtured by the history and culture of the Jewish people.

In this new pedagogical architecture, the need for teacher-researchers emerges, with reflections on daily practices becoming routine. The intention behind this innovation is to build an environment where students take ownership of their learning while teachers also have opportunities for authorship within the educational process. By embracing the concept of teachers as researchers of the teaching-learning process, the school’s structural renewal takes shape and finds practical application in student interactions. A flexible pedagogical framework enables students to see themselves as active agents in their pursuit of knowledge. Classroom management must be designed to incorporate active methodologies, personalized learning moments, diversified instruction, and process evaluations conducted collaboratively by both teachers and students. A learning space that prioritizes co-creation fosters the development of competencies.

Competency development involves recognizing students as protagonists of an active and meaningful learning experience. This educational model transforms students into critical thinkers, equipping them with the ability to solve everyday problems and make informed decisions, enabling them to engage and act in a constantly evolving world. As a result, competency-based education also addresses the need to prepare students for the labor market by continuously fostering the synergy between knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values. In a school where students and their learning processes are the priority, educational spaces must be designed to be motivational, challenging, and capable of inspiring young people to seek knowledge. This idea—that educational success is maximized through continuous innovation in learning—aligns with a pedagogical approach in which teachers become investigators and students form an investigative learning community.

This approach considers learning groups and classrooms as dynamic spaces filled with subjectivity, internal movement, and constant evolution, fostering a side-by-side rather than hierarchical approach to education. At this juncture, Deleuze and Guattari’s ideas resonate through the concept of cartography, a methodological approach that encourages teachers to act as cartographers—able to perceive reality as a plane composed of heterogeneous elements with heterogeneous functions.

In Buber’s philosophy, human beings are beings of encounter, and these encounters are nurtured through dialogue and authentic I-Thou relationships, where listening holds profound value. Pedagogical practice must embrace these principles by fostering active listening, exchanges, and meaningful interactions.

Buber’s focus was centered on community and experience—an unmistakably constructivist, inclusive, and pluralistic perspective in which the presence of the other is essential for the subject’s formation. This interaction facilitates acquisition of knowledge and the creation of a more just, ethical, and responsible society, with dialogue as its fundamental pillar. For Buber, the primary goal of education is to develop interpersonal communication skills, emphasizing individual competencies as channels for unique, enriching moments of exchange. He considered the learning environment crucial as a space of trust, where the educator participates in students’ lives beyond the academic sphere, ensuring that the educational encounter is holistic and genuinely addresses learners’ needs. From Buber’s perspective, the true educator is one who fosters students’ individual potential and channels it toward the development of their community.

This vision of education is reflected in the school’s new structure, where the foundational elements of its pedagogical strategies intertwine with Buber’s philosophy. Through this work, I seek to nurture the seeds of curiosity and inquiry that Buber planted in the 20th century, emphasizing his visionary perspective on the necessity of continuously updating Jewish education as a means of preserving and transmitting a millennia-old legacy across generations.