With the aim of continuing to mobilize evidence, knowledge, innovation and promote the exchange of experiences of educational policies and practices, the 3rd Regional Meeting of the KIX LAC – SUMMA hub was held. “Strengthening Public Education in Latin America and the Caribbean”, for three days in the city of Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
With the presence of the countries that make up the KIX LAC Hub, Dominica, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Saint Lucia, this third regional meeting has the participation of more than 60 relevant actors in the educational field, representatives of the Ministries of Education, universities, teacher unions, civil society organizations and international experts in education, to discuss the strategies, research and innovations, and work to combat the challenges for strengthening public education in the region from a global, regional and national perspective.
The meeting featured a ministerial panel with the participation of Honduran Vice Minister of Education, Jaime Rodríguez; the Minister of Education of Dominica, Octavia Alfred; the Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Education of Saint Lucia, Pauline Antoine-Prospere; the General Director of Educational Levels and Modalities of the Ministry of Education of El Salvador, and Edgar Abrego; and the Director General of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Didacus Jules.
Also participating as speakers on the different days of the meeting were the General Deputy Director of Technical Teacher Education of the Ministry of Education of Panama, Victoria Tello; the Gender Manager of the Ministry of Education of El Salvador, Yeny Rivas; ; Nadette Langford, OECS Senior Technical Specialist; Florencio Ceballos, IDRC program director; and Ian Macpherson, Head of Knowledge Sharing and Innovation (KIX) at the Global Partnership for Education (GPE); Javier Luque, GPE Country Lead; and Joel Warrican, Director of the School of Education, University of the West Indies (UWI); the executive director of the Center for Educational Leaders of the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso, Carmen Lucía Montecinos Sanhueza; Xavier Bonal Sarró, Professor of Sociology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and coordinator of GLOBED; Héctor Montenegro, international consultant in socio-emotional education; and Vicky Colbert, recipient of the Yidan World Prize (2017) for Educational Development and executive director of the Escuela Nueva de Colombia.
The director of Strategic Development and Advocacy of SUMMA, Karla Fernandini, welcomed the meeting, and the director of KIX LAC, Raúl Chacón, presented the progress and achievements of KIX, ensuring that “at SUMMA we have a great opportunity with KIX LAC, to contribute to educational improvement in the region and continue to actively promote dialogue and collaboration between representatives of Ministries of Education, academics, teacher unions and organized civil society”.
“We must identify the educational gaps, challenges and priorities, in order to establish the political and research agenda that frames the issues for which evidence needs to be mobilized,” he added.
Next, Sonia Rees, OECS information management officer, was in charge of presenting the inaugural panel “Educational challenges in the region”, which began with a presentation by the director of SUMMA, Javier González.
The economist presented the results of the regional study “The Teachers’ Voice”, carried out by SUMMA together with OECS and KIX LAC, in 21 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, and which had the participation of nearly 200,000 teachers. González reviewed the negative impacts of the pandemic on teacher and student well-being, and highlighted that the closure of schools and the suspension of face-to-face classes had a strong negative impact on access to education and student participation. And he listed the main challenges that emerged from the study, such as learning recovery; the strengthening of support mechanisms and pedagogical accompaniment; and the protection of the right to education by increasing and sustaining public spending on education and its efficient use.
For his part, the director of OECS, Didacus Jules, presented the “regional challenges from the perspective of an international organization”. “Developing regional and specific policies is critical. We have a responsibility to observe the contexts. The approach is not to prescribe solutions but to attend to the particular needs of each place”, he said and stressed that “the solutions require a deep understanding of the problem. We need to align and SUMMA has been a glue for these efforts”.
After the individual presentations, it was the turn of the panel of ministries, facilitated by Javier González. The objective of the session was to reflect on the role and challenges of public education in the territory, emphasizing the challenges associated with financing public education. Along with this, it sought to reflect on the opportunities for articulation between countries through subregional alliances, and with the KIX-LAC Hub.
“The education is not an expense, it is an investment and it is an investment in the future,” Rodríguez said, while Abrego warned that “the problems are many and the resources are limited.” “Financing must be prioritized and that it transcends presidential terms,” he said. Minister Alfred, for her part, stressed that “we have a responsibility to lead the government and other ministries, we seek collaboration between ministries, and education must lead the process.” Pauline Antoine-Prospere spoke of the need to keep students in school and “support parents to keep children in school.” Didacus Jules concluded that “there is never enough funding in education, there is always a battle between the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education in all parts of the world”.
After the panel, there were spaces for discussion regarding the thematic priorities of the different countries, and an open space for thematic dialogues and networking.
Towards the end of the day, the meeting’s opening dinner was held, with a presentation by Vicky Colbert, winner of the 2017 Yidan World Prize for Educational Development. The Founder and Director of Escuela Nueva spoke on “Scaling and sustainability of educational innovations and policies: the Escuela Nueva experience” and then there was a space for questions and answers.
During the second day, a fair of outstanding experiences of the KIX ecosystem in Latin America and the Caribbean was held, a space in which five non-governmental organizations presented the projects they are developing in the region. In addition, during the three days of the meeting, the posters of the projects are being exhibited in a space designated for this purpose.
The projects presented are:
Adaptation and expansion of peer tutoring of teachers and school leaders for equitable rural education, presented Education 2020. Daniel Araneda, Project Manager of the organization.
Strategies to prevent sexual and gender violence and promote equity in rural schools, presented by the Policy Coordinator of CLADE, Giovanna Modé.
Digital adaptations for effective and inclusive distance education in rural communities in Honduras and Nicaragua, presented by Florencia Ripani, director of the CEIBAL Foundation, and coordinator Diego Vázquez-Brust.
Strengthening the capacity of teachers and school principals to scale up bottom-up innovation in the Caribbean education system, by the State University of Haiti (Limonade) in collaboration with Raise Your Voice Saint Lucia. Angel Caglin, researcher at Raise Your Voice.
Adapting and scaling Up Teacher Professional Development Approaches in Ghana, Honduras and Uzbekistan, was presented by SUMMA Director of Educational Policy and Practice, Dante Castillo, and SUMMA Coordinator for KIX Global Honduras, Rosa María Moncada. Moncada noted that “working with the KIX project has been a learning journey.” “The role of school directors and municipal directors is key to accompany teacher training,” said Castillo.
Next, the panel of experts took place, a space in which attendees had the opportunity to discuss, ask questions and present the reality of their countries directly with each of the experts who spoke during the day.
After the group outing, the work activities of this day began, which had the objective of co-constructing work agendas with the representatives of the hub countries, in relation to the KIX 2.0 program offer.
The first session consisted of strategic meetings to discuss and plan regarding the use of the mechanisms of the KIX work plan, in relation to the educational challenges identified by each country. During the session, the two institutions that promote the hub, the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), and the International Development Research Center (IDRC-Canada), made their presentations by Ian Macpherson, GPEKIX Team Lead. and Javier Luque, Country Lead of the organization. Next, the director of KIX LAC, Raúl Chacón, explained the hub’s roadmap for its second implementation cycle.
In the second session of the day, a new work strategy for direct support to countries was presented, which is under development, and which will be promoted in this new stage of KIX 2.0. The director of KIX LAC, Raúl Chacon, presented this Country Support strategy, and then four cases of collaboration initiatives that are already being implemented were presented.
Facilitated by Karla Fernandini, SUMMA Director of Institutional Development and Advocacy, and Maciel Morales Aceitón, KIX LAC researcher, the cases were presented by Joel Warrican, Director of the School of Education, University of the West Indies (UWI); Victoria Tello, Deputy Director General of Technical Teaching Education of the Ministry of Education of Panama; Nadette Langford, OECS Senior Technical Specialist; Yeny Rivas, Gender Manager of the Ministry of Education of El Salvador.
Subsequently, a work space was held for the country delegations to outline a profile of possible projects that could be carried out with the “direct support to the countries” mechanism.
At the close of the third day and of the meeting, the director of SUMMA, Javier González, highlighted “the level of trust that there was working together.”
To conclude the three days of the regional meeting, the delegations enjoyed a dinner with a dance and music show that displayed Honduran folklore and culture.
✏️ Summary
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🎥 Video 3rd Regional Meeting
🎥 Video Dr. Michael Fullan, Director of Global Leadership at New Pedagogies of Deep Learning
