The Research Group on Innovation, Development and Competency Assessment in Education (IDOCE) at Universitat Jaume I in Castelló, coordinated by Professor Lucía Sánchez-Tarazaga, has promoted the creation of the Observatory of the Teaching Profession. This initiative emerged from the need to disseminate academic knowledge on teaching and the teaching profession and aims to become a co-creation space for sharing teaching experiences and fostering educational research among non-university teachers.

The Universitat Jaume I has joined the national STEAM Alliance for Female Talent, promoted by Spain’s Ministry of Education to encourage girls and young women to pursue studies in science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics, and to help close the gender gap in these fields. Membership requires submitting a project that promotes STEAM careers among girls and adolescents and passing a rigorous evaluation process.

The university’s application included three initiatives: "Sucre", which introduces computational thinking and programming in primary and secondary schools; "Ingeniera… ¿por qué no?", which raises awareness and provides resources to increase the presence of women in technical degrees; and "Connecta amb la ciència", a programme offering hands-on workshops and talks to secondary school students led by researchers from the university’s science and technology areas.

Following the path towards innovation in education and health, the Department of Education and Specific Didactics of the Universitat Jaume I is developing Hort4Health. Under the direction of Mireia Adelantado Renau, lecturer in the Department of Didactics of Experimental Sciences, this leading project seeks to analyse and investigate in an interdisciplinary way the impact of integrating an eco-educational garden in the classrooms where students learn about health, sustainability and emotional well-being, thus offering a solid scientific basis on the benefits of these practices.

The Hort4Health project emerges in response to the growing need to promote healthy habits among young people, especially in an era where technology and sedentary lifestyles predominate and generate worrying figures. Through practical activities in the garden, students not only study about agriculture and ecology, but also experience the benefits of physical activity and contact with nature for their mental and physical health. Researcher Mireia Adelantado points out that in this way "scientific results will be obtained on the current healthy habits of the university community, completing the scarce previous literature on this subject in this population". This initiative has already involved more than a hundred pupils from the Early Childhood and Primary School Teacher degrees, who have participated in sessions designed to improve their emotional wellbeing, their connection with the environment and their understanding of the importance of an active and healthy life. Early results indicate a significant positive impact on the physical health of the participants and underline the potential of the garden as an innovative space for learning and wellbeing.