Abstract:

The presentation will give an overall anaylsis of why improving the quality of the most vulnerable schools in the Lac Region requires a systemic perspective and a paradigm shift, a shift from transmission of knowledge to comprehension and social construction of knowledge and a new role of the teacher for the 21st century.
More of the same is not enough. It will describe how Escuela Nueva, a local innovation that became a national policy in Colombia, transforms the teacher centered conventional mode of education and will describe its main objectives, strategies , adaptations to other contexts, results and evaluations, which demonstrate better cognitive and non cognitive results in Escuela Nueva schools compared to conventional ones. It will highlight why necessity is the mother of innovation and how Escuela Nueva, a systemic perspective and proven solution to improve quality education, enhances equity , instills democratic behaviors, promotes twenty first century skills and both cognitive and socioemotional skills.
It will also analyze how innovations are very vulnerable to political and administrative changes and why it is crucial to work with governments to have impact and coverage and why it is necessary also to have public private partnerships and the role of civil society for ensuring quality and sustainability.