During the Technical Learning Visit of Honduras to Chile, organized by SUMMA through its KIX LAC Center, with the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC, Canada) and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), technical teams and managers of SUMMA, the Embassy of Honduras in Chile and the Ministry of Education of Chile, received the delegation of the Ministry of Education of Honduras, led by the Minister of Education, Daniel Esponda, the Director of Curriculum and Evaluation, Ana Mirian Lopez; and the Deputy Director General of Research, Esthefani Cerrato. The visit took place between September 04 and 08, 2023.
The objective of the meeting was for the Honduran representatives to learn first-hand about the initiatives, programs and educational policies that have been effective in the Chilean education system. Chile was considered as the host country, considering that in recent decades it has made a great effort to strengthen the professional development of teachers, articulated with curricular updating processes. Likewise, Chile is advancing in the processes of prioritizing emergency curricula and updating curricula for technical-professional education, articulated with teacher training processes in the context of the framework of the Buena Enseñanza.
In addition to the processes carried out by Chile n its education system, last March during the Annual Meeting of KIX LAC, Honduras identified the opportunity to learn more about the operation of leadership programs for in-service teachers such as those carried out by the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, who were available to share the lessons learned. As a consequence of this approach, officials from the Ministry of Education requested the mechanism of the SUMMA’s technical learning visit through its KIX LAC Center, to initiate a collaborative relationship that could later be translated into practical processes adaptable and applicable to the Honduran context.
The International Relations Office and the Centro de Perfeccionamiento, Experimentación e Investigaciones Pedagógicas of the Chilean Ministry of Education highlighted the collaborative work of Chilean and Honduran teachers since the 1950’s and how the CPEIP was the “training house for Chilean and Latin American teachers”, as the officers of this institution proudly say today. Honduran teacher training schools as well as others in the region benefited from teacher training programs whose elements are still in place today: effective initial training, adopting performance standards, introducing professional incentives, improving teacher skills, and attracting the most qualified candidates.
Main achievements:
1) Strengthening collaboration among countries;
2) Acquisition of knowledge and best practices in curricular updating processes;
3) Inclusion of elements that contribute to the drive for improvement in the formulation of a solid teacher training program;
4) Learning in the implementation of processes related to research, and
5) Planning for capacity building of the technical teams in Honduras through the lessons learned shared by the delegation with its technical teams.
6) The Honduran delegation takes on the task of adjusting the teacher profile based on the exchange of information that took place during the technical learning visit, which provided them with a clearer vision of the training strategy and the desired teacher profile, using various evaluation instruments to gather the necessary information.
Welcome to the Honduran delegation to Chile
At SUMMA’s offices located in Santiago de Chile, the SUMMA – KIX LAC team and the Honduran Ambassador to Chile, Linda Redondowelcomed the Honduran delegation and shared a talk on the importance of social justice, emphasizing the work being carried out in Latin American and Caribbean countries on closing the post-COVID19 educational gaps, equity and ensuring quality education, these challenges being a priority in the agendas of governments.
Honduran educational context
Within the framework of the re-foundation of the Honduran education system, key pillars have been identified in Plan 365 of the Ministry of Education:
- that our children and young people achieve fulfillment and happiness
- an education system that eradicates poverty and inequality, building democracy. Six closely linked elements:
- a) School meals.
- b) Books and didactic material.
- c) Furniture and technology.
- d) Infrastructure.
- e) Teacher training and research.
- f) Educational environments.
Five major objectives:
- a) Read and write well.
- b) to understand and analyze what is read and written.
- c) Development of mathematical logic.
- d) Development of digital skills.
- e) Transform their environment for the better.
Implemented through the following strategic projects:
- a) Normal schools.
- b) National network of agricultural schools.
- c) National network of cluster schools.
- d) Artistic and sports intervention strategy.
- e) Digital Republic.
- f) Pedagogical Publishing House “Sabio Valle”.
- g) National strategy for school reconstruction.
Day 1 |
On this first day, the Undersecretary of Education, Alejandra Arratia Martinez, received the Minister Espondato the representatives of the International Relations Office – ORI – and the Chilean Ministry of Education and SUMMA – KX LAC teams.led by its director, Javier GónzalezThe objective is to integrate knowledge of Chile’s education policy, mainly in teacher training, updating of curriculum updating (Buena Enseñanza) and the competency-based approach.
The SUMMA team consisted of Deputy Director Rafael Carrasco; Raúl Chacón, Director of KIX LAC; Karla Fernandini, Director of Strategic Development; Maciel Morales Aceitón, KIX LAC researcher; Mar Botero, Communities and Knowledge Mobilization Coordinator; Rosa María Moncada, KIX Honduras Project Coordinator; and Pablo Torche, Project Coordinator. Country Support El Salvador.
Day 2 |
The meeting was held in the city of Valparaíso, where several meetings were held with regional and local authorities. Initially, a meeting was organized at the Regional Ministerial Secretariat of Valparaíso – SEREMI -where an interesting discussion was held on programs that ensure equity. Subsequently, the delegation was received by the directors of the Escuela Blas Cuevas Ramón Allende, who welcomed them with a civic act enlivened by the students with Chilean cueca dances, followed by a meeting with the school’s directors, who emphasized the importance of giving priority to pedagogical alignment within the educational institutions.
Romina Maragaño, representative of the Regional Ministerial Secretariat of the Valparaíso region – SEREMI -, explained the interest in working on the issue of inclusion and explained that there is currently a process of revision of the Programa de Integración Escolar (PIE). Alsodelved into approaches, resources and strategies to address the needs of students with special needs. The Honduran delegation reflected on the great challenge for the country, inclusion and school integration imply for the country, due to the lack of psychology professionals in schools, of guidance counselors in secondary education, and the pending debt of working on the early childhood policy.
Then, at the headquarters of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso a meeting was held with the Director General of International Affairs, Orlando de la Vega; the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Jannett Fonseca; the Director of the Educational Leaders Center, Carmen Montecinos; and the representative of the Beginning Teachers Program, María Cristina Solís.; the purpose of the meeting was to strengthen ties and share various advances in the field of teacher training.
Day 3 |
The day began with a meeting at the Centro de Perfeccionamiento, Experimentación e Investigaciones Pedagógicas, CPEIP (Center for Improvement, Experimentation and Educational Research). , and with them, the presentation of the Curriculum and Evaluation Unit -UCE- and the Directorate of General Education. During the meeting, the topics of interest previously identified were discussed in greater depth. The working dynamics and roles of the Ministry of Education with the Quality Agency were explained, as well as the measurement or testing plan approved by the National Education Council, where the Ministry of Education defines the learning standards and the score that goes to the different levels of achievement, while the Agency has a testing application role, preventing the Ministry from playing the role of judge and party.
Next, there was a space dedicated to technical education, which has a total of 936 establishments and 35 specialties. This is a training based on a curriculum of labor competencies. The Dirección General de Educaciónpresented the structure in Chile with the education providers and the programs in the regions. Finally, Lilia Concha, director of the CPEIP, explained that there is a system of recognition and promotion of development to be able to enter the teaching career, where all certification must be endorsed by CPEIP under the framework that characterizes a good teacher and his or her performance. The CPEIP emphasized the articulated work that must exist between the Framework for the Buena Enseñanza, the following are some of the key elements to be considered: enabling environments, teaching and professionalization, curricula and assessments with initial training standards.
To conclude the visit, academics Beatrice Ávalos y Andrea Ruffinelli, and researchers from Fundación 2020, Gabriela Campos y Consuelo Iturrieta, met with representatives of the Honduran Ministry of Education to discuss research processes and their impact on the formulation of public policies, as well as curriculum development and teacher training; important issues arose such as the need to ensure greater articulation between research results and their translation into practice, and the need to build “bridges” so that research can influence decisions. Beatrice Avalos emphasized that researchers must be engaged but that “politics must ask and ask”.
Consuelo Iturrieta commented on how KIX LAC puts research at the service of countries’ educational priorities. The Minister of Education of Honduras shared the country’s need to set indicators for all the objectives outlined in the plan for the refoundation of education.
Testimonials
Javier Gonzalez, director of SUMMA: “It is very important to continue discussing inclusion, the policy of concertation, the diversity of educational programs, curriculum implementation and financing among other priorities, why a curriculum reform alone does not work, all the factors that compose it and that allow its correct implementation must be taken into account.”
Raúl Chacón: “This type of exchange and face-to-face learning initiatives facilitated by SUMMA, through its KIX LAC Center, represent an excellent opportunity to contribute to the educational development of LAC countries. In this case, the willingness of the authorities and teams of both countries to advance in technical collaborations specifically related to curriculum development and implementation processes, as well as aspects related to teacher training, is evident.”
Daniel Esponda, Minister of Education of Honduras, “I was expecting to hear about the process of building competencies, because for me it is very important to define those competencies according to grade, cycle and educational level. Hear the experience of how Chile saturated a learning objective competency curriculum. So now I am thinking more about whether the construction process has to be done as it is, in the participatory methodology the key actors have to be present, which are the teachers, and they know the competencies that we have to build. It is important to carry out a process not only of systematization but also of validation”.
“Honduras and Chile have a tradition of collaboration since the founding of the Universidad Pedagogica Francisco Morazan.”
Alejandra Arratia, Vice Minister of Education of Chile,, “We are very happy to see this South-South collaboration”.
Orlando de la Vega Luna, General Director of International Affairs, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso: “SUMMA plays a relevant role in connecting us. In education we can all be active collaborators”
Ana Mirian López, Director of the Curriculum and Evaluation Unit of the Honduran Ministry of Education: “It is necessary to regulate the moments of formation with consensus based on experience”.
Sthefani Cerrato, Deputy Director of Research of the Honduran Ministry of Education: “We want to see instruments that are in line with the needs of our country and that are aligned with a curricular update.”
Viviana Castillo, Director of Curriculum of the Ministry of Education of Chile: “In order to carry out a true curriculum update, we must talk to all sectors, so that everyone can see themselves reflected.”
Orlando de la Vega, General Director of International Affairs, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso: “PUCV has a great commitment and leadership with education. The Faculty of Philosophy and Education is one of the largest in the University. At the undergraduate level, we have made significant progress in the initial training of teachers, where we face a long-standing challenge. We hope to continue contributing to the formative process of our children and young people so that they can become true factors of change when they assume the reality of leading society”.
Carmen Montecinos: “They (Honduras) are interested in learning about the Chilean higher education system, particularly in the area of teacher training, where we are carrying out various tasks as a leadership center. We have received a delegation from Panama and we are working with them. The idea is to support them in the area of internationalization to strengthen links with other institutions”.
