International and national experts made presentations on innovative approaches to support educational communities to reduce learning lags in the context of educational reactivation.
On Tuesday, October 10, in the auditorium of the Nicanor Parra Library of the Diego Portales University, the International Seminar "Learning to implement school improvement: An urgent task" was held. The activity, co-organized by the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, through the Center, C Líder, and Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, was attended by Donald J. Peurach, Ph.D. of the University of Michigan and the former Superintendent of the Unified School District of the City of Sacramento, California, Jorge Aguilar. In addition, three local initiatives that are developed within the framework of the work carried out by C Líder were shared at the event.
The Undersecretary of Education, Alejandra Arratia, participated in the conference and highlighted the importance of offering instances such as these, which bring together different spheres of the educational system. "The challenges in education are great and if we do not do them jointly, articulated, and consistently, they become even bigger and even more difficult. It is essential that we can come together, actors from different levels and sectors, to have this country perspective, especially at this time when we are addressing the challenges of educational reactivation."
Donald J. Peurach, Professor of Educational Policy, Leadership and Innovation at the School of Education at the University of Michigan, in his presentation "Continuous and Collaborative Improvement: Reimagining Local Educational Innovation" highlighted that currently in education, we are in a stage of empowerment. "It is a stage in which it is recognized that the need to provide high-quality education to increasingly diverse students requires that education professionals at the local level are empowered to face complexities and challenges, and that they receive support to learn to do their jobs better." We must have a historical look that allows us to see "an evolution from school systems that provide access, to educational systems that support teaching and learning, to learning systems that support adults in the joint development of knowledge and skills to do more, for more students. Therefore, the important thing is to understand that, by doing this work, you are part of a historical expansion of what we know and understand about what local changemakers can do."
For his part, the former Superintendent of the Sacramento City Unified School District, Jorge Aguilar, presented "Improvement Sciences at the Service of Educational Equity: From Early Childhood Education to Access to College." "For me it is important to be a leader and show a lot of humility, because before having an expectation about the work that your staff must do, one has to train and know how to do the same thing that is asked of them. Having experience, maybe not being an expert, but knowing how to do the job with a lot of confidence so that your staff sees you as an example that you are learning, that you are demonstrating humility in the face of very complex problems," said Aguilar about his role as a leader of an educational center supporter.
In addition to the international guests, the seminar was attended by various professionals from C Líder, who presented different initiatives in panel mode. Mónica Cortez and Felipe Aravena, from PUCV Educational Leaders, presented "Thinking about educational improvement planning in short cycles: The challenge of building a collective improvement mentality". Carlos Eugenio Beca, together with Alejandra Acevedo, from the Diego Portales University, presented "Training of systemic leaders: Learning to work collaboratively for a better education". Finally, Yael Codriansky, from Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, presented "In search of continuous improvement oriented to the Quality Assurance System in Early Childhood Education".
The event was attended by authorities such as the Superintendent of Education, Mauricio Farías, the Executive Secretary of the Education Quality Agency, Gino Cortez, the Dean of Education of the Diego Portales University, Paula Louzano. In addition to the executive directors of C Líder and Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, Carmen Montecinos and Marcela Marzolo, respectively.
The Superintendent of Education, Mauricio Farías, emphasized the importance of having international voices in the national experience, "the knowledge they bring from outside stresses the knowledge and practices of what we are doing. It helps us to rethink ourselves, to relook at what we are doing, how we do it, looking for new mechanisms. It helps us to open up the range of opportunities we have."
For his part, the Executive Secretary of the Education Quality Agency, Gino Cortez, pointed out that "in order to make effective changes in the educational system, the energies of the different groups are required within a cycle of continuous improvement. The commitment of academics, of those who are in the educational communities, of those who are today in public service or in the State and, also, of those who are in middle positions is important. I believe that the meeting of all these actors, and the synergy that must exist between each of them, is vital to be able to install a process of continuous improvement in the educational system."
The Dean of the Faculty of Education of the Diego Portales University, Paula Louzano, welcomed the attendees, highlighting that, "we tend to expect solutions to come from research, that people who are working in the field do not have time to reflect and think about these problems and challenges; and we know that doesn't work. So I want to celebrate the fact that here we are bringing reflection, regarding research and practice, which is represented by the two international researchers."
"All the exhibitors have reinforced the idea that to solve problems we need innovation. Therefore, what we are doing today is sharing innovations that are being carried out in Chile, but that are also innovations that are being carried out in other countries. The reform today is not enough, we need to restructure and transform how we are addressing the processes of educational improvement and this is a transformation that has to come, both from the design of public policies, and from the actions that are carried out at the level of educational centers," said the Executive Director of C Líder and PUCV Educational Leaders. Carmen Montecinos.
For her part, the Executive Director of Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, Marcela Marzolo, pointed out that, "when listening to the different presentations, both national and international, of this seminar, I am left with the feeling that we are talking or beginning to speak a common language. Everything we work on at the Foundation: continuous improvement, collaboration, innovation, practical problems, all these concepts are already being worked on with greater emphasis here in Chile, but also abroad. Finally, we are all focused on a common purpose, which is the learning and integral development of students."
At the end of the day, the Undersecretary of Education, Alejandra Arratia, together with Juan Pablo Valenzuela, Director of the CIAE of the University of Chile, addressed how innovation is promoted and key aspects to address the challenges of educational reactivation.
You can review the seminar at this link:
https://www.youtube.com/live/dpjlUuGa2Yg?si=Fz3YOH1DWQ_W0QqB
