technology-based rural schools in argentina

162 Pages·2016·19.61 MB·English

making the right to
secondary education possible
technology-based rural schools
in argentina
making the right to

secondary education
possible
technology-based rural schools
Making the Right
to SecondaRy education PoSSible
technology-based Rural Schools
in argentina
Editorial Management
Cora Steinberg, Education Specialist at UniCEf Argentina
Author
Elena Duro
Collaborators
Paula Camarda
Emmanuel A. Lista
Design & Layout
Valeria Goldsztein
© UniCEf Argentina, 2nd Edition, July 2016.
Total or partial reproduction of texts published herein is authorized as long as they
are not altered, the corresponding credits are assigned, and they are not used for
commercial purposes.
Using language that would not make any discriminatory differences between men and
women is one of the main concerns of those who conceived this publication. Thus, the
“he/she” option is included where appropriate.
UniCEf Argentina
[email protected]
www.unicef.org.ar
Those who made possible the beginning of Technology-Based Rural Secondary
Schools are:
Authorities of provincial Ministries of Education: the Minister of Education of the
province of Chaco, Prof. Sergio Soto; the Minister of Education of the province of
Jujuy, florencia Gelmetti, B.A.; the Minister of Education of the province of Misiones,
Luis Jacobo, Eng.; and the Minister of Education of the province of Salta, Roberto Dib
Ashur, C.P.A.
Technical teams of the provincial Ministries of Education.
national and provincial mentors of the national Program Conectar Igualdad.
Acknowledgements
We wish to express our appreciation for Mr. Martin Scasso’s, B.A., work and
collaboration, as well as for providing data on rural education and developing the
survey herein mentioned.
A special thanks to all the students and their families who gave us their voices.
Index
Introduction.............................................................................................7
Chapter.I.. History.and.Background....................................................11
i.1. iCT programs and policies: changes in institutional formats. ......................11
i.2. Data on Rural Conditions and Secondary Education in Argentina ...............21
i.3. Educational Situation of Adolescents in Rural and Urban Areas.
iCT Access in the Provinces undergoing this Experience: Chaco, Salta,
Misiones and Jujuy .............................................................................................29
Chapter.II.. Characteristics.of.the.“Technology-based.Rural.Secondary.
School”.Innovation............................................................41
ii.1. Objectives and implementation. ....................................................................41
ii.2. format of the Technology-based Rural Secondary School ...........................45
ii.3. Participants and Roles in this Secondary School ...........................................49
ii.4. Recognition of Schools by the Law ................................................................56
ii.5. Location of the Technology-based Schools classrooms in Rural areas .......61
ii.6. An insight to the Technology-based Rural Schools ......................................66
Chapter.III.. The.Role.of.ICTs.in.this.Rural.Secondary.School...............69
iii.1. Scope of an iCT-based Educational Process. ................................................69
iii.2. iCT Types and notes on their Use. ................................................................72
iii.2.1. Equipment ..........................................................................................75
iii.2.2. Educational Virtual Platforms in Technology-based Rural
Secondary Schools .............................................................................84
iii.2.3. Training and Educational Collaborative Meetings for Pedagogical
and Communicational Use of iCTs ....................................................87
Chapter.IV.. Challenges.of.Institutional.and.Pedagogical.Management.
in.Technology-based.Rural.Secondary.Schools.................93
iV.1. Ensuring integration between Primary and Secondary Levels ...................93
iV.2. Collaborative Work between Teachers and Tutors .....................................98
iV.3. Protecting Academic Careers ......................................................................105
iV.4. The Challenge of Achieving Powerful Learning for Everyone ..................109
Chapter.V.. Comments.and.Suggestions.for.Expanding.and.Ensuring.
Education.in.Remote.Rural.Locations.through.Technology-
based.Rural.Secondary.Schools.........................................127
V. 1. Lessons Learned from the first Evaluation of Results ...............................135
Bibliography........................................................................................141
Spreading.the.news.on.Technology-based.Rural.Secondary.Schools.....145
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Introduction
in these pages we present the systematization of an innovative experience
with iCTs (information and Communications Technologies) destined to
creating access to secondary education in rural locations. This innovative
format of secondary school has been promoted by UniCEf since the year
2012 and, to date, has been driven forward by the Ministries of Education of
the provinces of Jujuy, Salta, Chaco and Misiones.
Seven years ago, in TIC y justicia educativa we wrote about the need of
encouraging iCT use in public policies in terms of equality. There, we
specifically expressed the need to strengthen the use of technologies
to promote access to secondary education in remote rural areas and in
indigenous communities living in rural locations. national Education Law
no. 26,206 that positions education as a right and common good, set new
challenges to the country. The compulsory nature of this educational
level poses a great defiance for the State, families, teachers, youth,
and public policies as a whole: having to guarantee it. And this is even
more defying in remote rural territories and/or in hard-to-reach areas. A
coexistence of social issues, derived mainly from the violation of other
basic rights, can be frequently observed in said places. Communities with
unmet basic needs, children and adolescents who take on precarious
work responsibilities early in life, unequal insertion due to gender-based
issues, and teenage pregnancy and parenthood. Moreover, difficulties
for accessing safe water and other basic services can be, at some rural
locations, part of the circumstances in which these communities live.
Enabling access to secondary education there has a transcendent value
for ending poverty and exclusion determinism into which the inhabitants
of the most remote locations usually fall.
in Argentina, rural population represents around 10% of the total. By the
age of 15, one fourth does not attend school, and by the age of 19, 57%
does not attend school and has not finished secondary school.2
1 Duro, E. (2008): “TiC y justicia educativa”, en: Las TIC del aula a la agenda política. [Translated
by the author]. Presentation at the international Seminar “How iCTs Transform Schools”. Buenos
Aires: UniCEf-iiPEUnESCO..
2 Quantitative data on rural secondary education belong to the study: Duro, E., Scasso. M. and
collaborators: Secundario Rural en Argentina. Avances y desafíos [mimeo]. UniCEf. [Translated by the
author].
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This Technology-based Rural Secondary School has a very special format:
teachers are specifically placed in an urban headquarters. from this
headquarters derive satellite classrooms where adolescents attend, in
their own remote rural community. Each urban headquarters can provide
Technology-based education to 10 classrooms that are situated, as previously
mentioned, in rural locations.
“Pampichuela” Community, where one of the classrooms of the Rural
Secondary School no. 1, of the province of Jujuy, is located.
Students attend the secondary school classroom located in their community
on a daily basis, and are accompanied by a tutor who guides classes. in turn,
these classes reach students through multiple iCT channels that teachers use
to make learning practices effective. Each one of these Technology-based
Rural Secondary School formats, in each one of the provinces where they
are taking place, has gained its own peculiarities according to the needs,
the possibilities, and the assessments that the authorities and teachers have
been making since the beginning and during the process of implementing
this innovation. These are living schools, in terms of their collective and
interinstitutional reflection and their constant evolution.
iCT-mediate Rural Secondary Schools not only transformed the lives of the
more than 600 young people who for the very first time have access to
secondary education and to iCTs, but also changed the way of living in
n those communities where they are inserted. Young people now project
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ti themselves towards possible futures, and their testimonies account for
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d that. An indirect effect can be seen in new social dynamics that arise in each
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r community as a result of these Technology-based schools.
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