(In the photo: SUMMA – KIX LAC Team, Undersecretaries of Education and Early Childhood Education of the Ministry of Education of Chile and delegates of the Ministry of Education of El Salvador)
Within the framework of the KIX LAC program, technical teams and managers of the Chilean government received the delegation from El Salvador during the technical learning visit, which took place on December 14, 15 and 16. The purpose of this activity was for the representatives of the visiting country to learn about and experience effective educational initiatives, programs and policies in another Latin American and Caribbean country.
On this occasion, Chile was considered because in recent decades the country has made a great effort to strengthen governmental institutions associated with the protection of children’s rights and the provision of quality education at the initial levels, with emphasis on the educational trajectory and the development of various mechanisms aimed at quality assurance at different levels.
During the first day, the Salvadoran delegation was received by the Ambassador of El Salvador in Chile, Dania Tolentino, representatives of the Chilean Foreign Ministry, the International Relations Office of the Chilean Ministry of Education, and the SUMMA team, headed by its director, Javier González and the director of KIX LAC, Raúl Chacón Zuloaga, who thanked the participating organizations for their participation and emphasized the importance of collaborative work among Latin American countries, stressing that “this is a wonderful opportunity to share knowledge and national experiences in educational development issues, with a special focus on the recovery and assurance of learning at different educational levels, as well as to learn from outstanding strategies that have been implemented in other parts of the continent”.
Subsequently, an intersectoral round table was held with the Undersecretariat for Children, the Chile Crece Contigo program and the Ministry of Education, to define a work agenda in relation to early childhood, the identification of priority groups, work with a gender focus and intersectoral work. In the afternoon, a meeting was held with the Education Quality Agency and the Superintendence of Education, to learn about the evaluation and orientation mechanisms, as well as the mechanisms for monitoring and safeguarding the rights of the education system.
The Salvadoran delegation was formed by Edgard Abrego Cruz, General Director of Educational Levels and Modalities of the Ministry of Education, who highlighted the experience and said that “thanks to KIX LAC I have had the opportunity to share with officials from different levels, finding the common ground we have to envision a better future for education in our countries. Expectations have been far exceeded and we have had additional agreements that allow us to outline a lasting relationship”. Likewise, Yeny Rivas, Gender Manager of MinEduc, invited the other KIX LAC representatives to live the experience: “this first learning visit between countries has been very significant, because we were able to learn about what our Chilean brothers are doing and about the progress they are making in education”.
The second day began with a visit to the René Escauriaza General School and then to the Apolo XI Kindergarten and Nursery School, both belonging to the Barrancas Local Public Education Service (SLEP). Present were management teams and teachers of the respective institutions, members of the technical teams of the SLEP of Barrancas and of the Provincial Directorate, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Education.
In the last part of the day, a meeting was held with the Gender Unit of the Ministry of Education to learn about the work being carried out on gender mainstreaming in the education system, both in the curriculum, textbooks, educational establishments, teacher training and the challenges, tensions and lessons learned in the implementation of educational policies.
To close the visit, the delegation participated in a meeting with the Undersecretary of Education and the Undersecretary of Early Childhood Education, together with the ministerial teams from the Curriculum Unit, the General Education Division, CPEIP and the Undersecretary of Early Childhood Education. Subsequently, the Salvadoran team met with researchers specializing in early childhood education to learn about research agendas in early childhood, early childhood education and perspectives of the educational quality assurance system, as well as the connection between research and the formulation of public policies.
The SUMMA – KIX LAC team, who organized and accompanied the activities, was also formed by Deputy Director Rafael Carrasco, Strategic Development Director Karla Fernandini, KIX LAC researchers Maciel Morales Aceitón and Fernanda del Pozo, and Communities and Knowledge Mobilization Coordinator Mar Botero
