Let’s try a new school model

NON PROFIT

by THE OLBIOS TEAM

Having studied sociology and education in Latin America and the United States, Vicky Colbert returned to Colombia in the mid-1970’s and designed, alongside rural Colombian teachers, the Escuela Nueva, a new school pedagogical model aimed at turning around dysfunctional rural and low-income schools to improve the quality of education. Responding directly and systemically to education challenges that arise in communities with poor educational infrastructure, inadequate resources, high teacher turnover, high repetition and drop-out rates, and low academic achievement, Fundacion Escuela Nueva transforms the conventional school system. Its strategy include such aspects as active and participatory learning centered on the child, a new role for the teacher as facilitator of collaborative learning, and interactive self-directed, self paced texts and guides. The organization also introduces new elements into the curricula that combine life, social and entrepreneurial skills with academic subjects, presented in ways more immediately relevant to the daily lives of students and their families. Escuela Nueva wants to unite three elements that are often separated: materials, teacher training and methodology. Evolving from a local innovation into an effective national policy adopted by Colombia’s Ministry of Education in the mid eighties, its model has since been replicated in sixteen countries across Latin America, reaching an estimated five million children worldwide. Fundacion Escuela Nueva is currently working in Vietnam, East Timor, Panama, Ecuador, Mexico and India to adapt its model to these countries and contexts. Fundación Escuela Nueva_website   Website: http://www.escuelanueva.org/portal/en.html

 

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