Reflections on secondary education in Argentina

Some ideas from leading specialists to improve Argentine secondary education.

1. The educational farce in the middle level in Argentina:

• Although the renowned specialist Guillermo Jaim Etcheverry, in a recent book, speaks of an educational tragedy, perhaps the name is not the most appropriate for the reality of Argentine multi-modal education (for young people aged 15 to 17 years). Perhaps it is more appropriate to speak of educational farce since when a tragedy occurs, mechanisms of action are generally originated to get out of the bottom that has been reached. On the other hand, when there is a farce, it is known that things are going badly but everyone pretends that it is not so bad, no substantive measures for change arise, although there are some schools where things work quite well (some private schools and some traditional state), the reality of the average is quite sad.Many teachers believe that the student learns because they reach the 7 savior at the end of the year, but they are deceived,Because soon after they forget what they were given in class, there was no significant learning. Many parents believe that, through today's multi-modal education, their children are preparing well to continue higher education, to get a job and to life, but they are also deceived. In the case of higher education, if there are boys who, without studying in the few schools where things are going acceptably, can perform well in the entrance exams of some of the most demanding Argentine faculties, it is more because of their innate ability than because of basis of a high-level polymodal. But where is the fault?their children are preparing well for higher education, work and life, but they are also delusional. In the case of higher education, if there are children who, without studying in the few schools where things are going acceptably, can perform well in the entrance exams of some of the most demanding Argentine faculties, it is more because of their innate ability than because of basis of a high-level polymodal. But where is the fault?their children are preparing well for higher education, for a job and for life, but they are also delusional. In the case of higher education, if there are boys who, without studying in the few schools where things are going acceptably, can perform well in the entrance exams of some of the most demanding Argentine faculties, it is more because of their innate ability than because of basis of a high-level polymodal. But where is the fault?It is more due to innate own capacity than due to the basis of a high-level multi-modality. But where is the fault?It is more due to innate own capacity than due to the basis of a high-level multi-modality. But where is the fault?

If most teachers have the best predisposition to teach despite low salaries (many do it out of true calling), then they cannot be to blame.

Neither do parents, if they want the best for their children. Nor are the students, they are the victims of this reality, they only "adapt" to a system that is not working well.

It is then the system that is not working properly, and the one who has the greatest responsibility for optimizing the system is the government.

2. Before analyzing successful proposals, let's see how the "secondary" works today in Argentina (approximately EGB3 and Polimodal)

• GBS3

It is responsible for providing the last cycle of compulsory education, basically designed to provide the student with general knowledge of different areas of knowledge.

• The Polimodal

goals

Features

Articles 54, 55, 56, 57 and 58, LFE.

* Ethical and civic function: to provide students with a training that deepens and develops values ​​and competencies related to the development of personal life projects and integration into society as responsible, critical and supportive people.

* Propedeutic function: to guarantee students a solid training that allows them to continue any type of higher studies developing permanent learning capacities.

* Function of preparation for productive life: to offer students an orientation towards broad fields of the world of work, strengthening the competences that allow them to adapt flexibly to its changes and take advantage of its possibilities.

ü Two types of training

* General Foundation Training (FGF) that will take up, with higher levels of complexity and depth, the contents of Basic General Education

* Oriented Training (FO) that will develop, contextualize and specify the contents of the General Foundation Training, attending to different fields of knowledge and social and productive work.

* Common Basic Contents (CBC): They will deepen the training offered by the EGB. It will correspond to the General Foundation Training (FGF) and will be common to all modalities. Its development will require a minimum of 50% of the minimum hourly load foreseen for the level. They will be agreed by the Federal Council of Culture and Education of the Nation.

* Oriented Basic Contents (CBO): They will deepen and contextualize the CBC through developments oriented towards different fields of knowledge and social and productive work. Its development will demand around 30% of the minimum hourly load foreseen for the level. They will be agreed by the Federal Council of Culture and Education of the Nation.

* Differentiated Contents (CD): They will be related to differentiated areas of application and deepening of the CBC and CBO. They will be defined within the framework of the prescriptions and mechanisms that are established in each province to promote the connection of the School Institutions with their socio-productive environments and from the Institutional Projects of each establishment.

They are structured from Institutional Educational Projects (PEI).

Its development will comprise around 20% of the minimum long hour for the level.

Likewise, the aforementioned document establishes the articulation of Polimodal Education with the Technical-Professional Paths (TTP), establishing that Polimodal Education, in any of its modalities, may be articulated with Technical-Professional Paths, which may be organized according to different alternatives that will be oriented to the development of the necessary competences to perform in specific areas of the productive task.

They may be developed in a counter-turn or at the end of the 3rd year of the Polimodal.

• Modalities:

* Natural Sciences

* Economics and Management of Organizations

* Humanities and Social Sciences

* Production of Goods and Services

* Communication, Arts and Design.

All the modalities will share an orientation that will be, at the same time, humanistic, social, scientific and technical, although they will organize and develop the contents based on the requirements of the field that differentiates each modality from the others, and from regional and regional contexts. communities in which the institutions carry out their activity.

3. Almost unanimous opinion in the teaching staff:

"Intrinsic motivation is scarce among students"

• The teachers 'rooms have been transformed into "catharsis rooms", where recesses are consumed talking about the students' lack of desire for "my subject." Intrinsic motivation is key to meaningful learning, in the opinion of the majority of students. theorists, especially all constructivists. What is intrinsic motivation? that internal force that makes us strive to build a certain knowledge, there is proactivity in the student. Our postmodern students hide behind utilitarian knowledge, what use is this to me? As the secondary degree is less and less useful for employment, the The average student studies purely and exclusively to reach the 7th and at the end of the polymodal obtain the diploma, which will allow them to access higher studies.And to reach the blessed 7, they appeal to everything unimaginable, especially,all the existing copying techniques and to be invented. The consequence of this low intrinsic motivation is a weak knowledge, not related to Ausubel, which disappears shortly after the end of the year. Fortunately, when they face higher education the level improves, because intrinsic motivation arises. There they do care about learning something well, since they are clear about what is it for?

4. In my opinion (opinion only, not proposal)

• It would be necessary to study the possibility of articulating with greater force the polymodal with higher education, taking advantage of the fact that many young people between 15-17 years of age are already having their preferences clear. The student would see more clearly "the usefulness" of such flexible educational paths, which would be compulsory to access higher studies. A greater intrinsic motivation would emerge Coincidence: the proposal of Dr. Alberto Taquini and his university colleges (condensed in "Transformation of Argentine Higher Education: From new universities to university colleges", Bs.As., National Academy of Education, year 2000) Taquini proposes something similar to the “Community Colleges” in the USA, which are municipal. They would cover the last 2 years of Polimodal plus 2 years of specific job training.They would offer study programs linked to regional needs and prepare students for university careers.Taquini proposal: very interesting

5. UNESCO's proposals

• I take the trouble to analyze them due to the degree of influence of UNESCO in the educational policies of governments. Certainly several of these proposals are going to be reflected in concrete policies in the near future. Will they talk about seeking a greater intrinsic motivation at the level? These proposals arise from a UNESCO conference in Chile (Year 2000). Several international specialists answer about what should be taught today as a priority to our adolescents and how the secondary level should be structured

Ignacio Pozo, prominent Spanish educational psychologist

• Make the acquaintance pleasant and pleasant, but also necessary; know that those who do not have certain cultural keys have less access to the products and processes of this society. Therefore, we must not give up teaching established bodies of knowledge -which are the culture in which we live- but also teach how to learn, to interact with knowledge and with other people Regarding the modality, it is ideally inclined towards modular structures that each student attends according to their time and interest and structures different from the current ones in terms of class periods, divisions of the school year and practical in the world of work.But, as they can be structurally and economically unfeasible, a solution would go through a single secondary,flexible and contextualized, knowing that this requires a truly open system (which caters to diversity, with support teams, variable educational paths with real choice), which also requires resources, which is why it also seems difficult to implement in the region. tend towards an increasingly comprehensive compulsory education, which does not necessarily mean that primary and secondary schools disappear as such. In fact, this is the case in the Spanish model.this is the case in the Spanish model.this is the case in the Spanish model.

Alvaro Marchesi, also a Spanish specialist

• The priority needs are: training in democratic and solidarity values; desire to know more; capacity for teamwork; innovation; mastery of different languages ​​Regarding the structure, he suggests that the option he prefers is a common secondary school, lasting three or four years, with a progressive diversification of the curriculum depending on the interests and abilities of the students. It would also be possible to access vocational training oriented towards the world of work or towards post-compulsory secondary studies of two or three years, at the end of which one could access university or higher vocational training studies It is highly attractive for post-compulsory secondary education propose highly open structures, based on modules,Some are essential for certain higher studies, as well as others that are clearly oriented towards vocational training and that each student takes them according to their possibilities of time and interests, but difficult to put into practice. It is necessary to go through a more formalized first stage. that allows progress towards that model.

Angel Díaz Barriga, Mexican specialist, with a socio-critical tendency

• Priority must be given to educate in life and for a better understanding of what surrounds the student, educate in technology and in the problems that the current practical world demands.First of all, educate in the adolescent's life itself first, taking advantage of everything that surrounds it (information technologies, communication media, practical technologies) to generate from there a concern for scientific knowledge. Second, it is necessary to educate it to understand “its world” and from it, world history and geography. Third, It is necessary to educate him according to a perspective of employment and national development He thinks that it is feasible to differentiate a common part in secondary school (three years) and a part of professional orientation (which does not mean that students who study technical training cannot enter higher education).This author raises, one should think about very simple technical diplomas delivered under the perspective that at work one can aspire to a subsequent labor certification, without canceling access to higher education from the world of work.

Ana Luiza Machado, Brazilian, has held important positions in the UNESCO structure

• There are two categories of young people: those who have access to secondary education and those who do not. The needs of both are identical but the way of attending to them is very different. Machado understands that the skills required for today's life are:

- Know how to communicate in written and oral form

- Know how to read and understand what is read

- Know how to anticipate problems and know how to solve them

- Know how to work in a team

- Know how to be critical of the social environment

- Be a participative citizen

- Develop moral values

- Know how to use technology

- Have the ability to undertake

- Have conditions to continue learning throughout life

- Stand autonomously in front of life.

• It is necessary to promote access to these skills to all young people for their personal and professional life. And they must be attended in a formal and / or non-formal way, depending on the situation of each one. Regarding the structure, it proposes a central nucleus common and a diversified nucleus that meets the best interests of students, with open modular structures that allow them to contemplate their possibilities. Secondary school should not be a preparation for a specific job.

General knowledge and skills necessary throughout professional and personal life should not be set aside to teach technical skills aimed at the development of a specific job that we do not know if it will be useful in a few years or even when the student finishes their courses.

Pablo da Silveira, Uruguayan specialist

• The priority needs are: adequate management of the mother tongue (oral and written), a reasonable command of English, basic scientific culture, command of basic computer tools (word processors, spreadsheets), democratic culture, basic economic culture. Regarding the modality of implementation, da Silveira is in favor of compulsory education up to the age of 15. The choice between a work-oriented education and a more academic education cannot be postponed by the time the students are 14 or 15 years old. Certain options must be able to be taken when the boys are 12 years old, in order to properly organize the training they receive before the age of 15 (foreseeing that many of them will leave the educational system at that time).There must be a first option at 12 years of age between an education with a more academic profile and another more clearly oriented to work (although the latter should not be a dead end in curricular terms), and then there must be a certain diversity of options for students. final three years.

They remain unanalyzed so as not to make the exposure so long

• Elena Martín, Spanish specialist David Silva, Chilean specialist Jehuda Reinharz, from Israel but dean of a North American university Bernal Meza, Argentine specialist Ignacio Gonzalo, Spanish specialist Ernesto Schiefelbein, former Chilean Minister of Education

6. To finish

• Several specialists reveal proposals regarding the search for greater intrinsic motivation in students to achieve significant learning. Undoubtedly, all those who speak of moving towards modularized, optional, more flexible secondary school periods (pozo, marchesi, machado) are saying “let's look for that the student chooses based on their interests, which from the age of 15 become quite clear. ”Although, undoubtedly, advancing in several of these proposals would imply very large changes in the Polimodal, both pedagogical and especially administrative.: the university colleges proposed by Dr. Taquini

Note: Part of this exhibition was presented during the Final Colloquium of the Argentine Educational System subject, of the Teaching Cycle for Professionals, Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, National University of Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina.