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The Ministry of Education will announce in the next few days its plan to return to classes, a logistics operation that seeks to have 3.6 million schoolchildren gradually return to schools after seven weeks of suspended activities.
To do this, it is analyzing various proposals, the last of which was delivered on April 24 by the Covid-19 Social Roundtable, which mandated a group of experts from various universities, including the Catholic University and the University of Chile – whose rectors make up the table- to think about measures to return to the classroom.
The document, which you accessed Third, delivers proposals based on three axes: well-being of school communities; curricular prioritization, evaluative and management adjustments; and remote education.
On this first point, it is proposed that, in view of the fear of families that their children miss the school year, it is key to “avoid repetitions that put the school trajectories of students at risk”. To do this, it is proposed to “deliver a clear signal that there will be no repetitions after the health crisis.”
One of the academics behind that idea is Ernesto Treviño, from the UC Center for Educational Transformation (Center UC). He says that “the evidence shows that when we have an emergency, the transit of children must be supported, so that this emergency does not generate trauma or long-term consequences.”
This means that many schoolchildren could have academic impacts, because they have sick relatives or have died from the coronavirus, so it is not convenient that they also have a truncated academic career. According to the information it manages, about 4.5% of schoolchildren (126 thousand students) repeated a course in 2015, which is accentuated at levels such as 1st grade.
The report says that, in the case of classes by remote means, “care must be taken that the methodologies are relevant”, while in the case of face-to-face classes it is suggested “to plan a progressive immersion in subject content, recognizing that learning will be essential first to achieve emotional balance. ”
In relation to learning, the Social Table Covid-19 proposes to create an emergency curriculum, something that the Mineduc is already working on, and which experts propose to be valid for two years, allowing “to work with greater intensity on skills key of each subject ”.
The report provides some examples. In the case of Sciences, it is proposed to prioritize scientific inquiry questions and carry out home experiments. In Mathematics, it is suggested to use the data that the pandemic has produced (as number of infected) to study mathematical modeling. And in Language, it is proposed to promote reading at home.
In addition, experts suggest relaxing Decree 67 of the Mineduc, which establishes school evaluations, to “propose promotion criteria based on formative evaluations.”
Regarding other processes of the school system, the Covid-19 Social Table proposes to suspend this year’s Simce tests, which should be taken by students in 4th grade, 6th grade and 2nd grade in October: “It should be postponed to the year 2021, keeping the regular date of its application. The Simce measures end-of-year learning. A delay to the beginning of 2021 would not make sense, ”says the proposal.
Experts warn that this is a decision that must be communicated soon and they discard the idea of applying a Simce this year that only serves as a diagnosis. “What is required are evaluative tools that deliver real-time and contextualized information. A diagnostic Simce, even if it has no consequences, generates late information (due to the processing rhythms) and standardized information ”, they explain.
The Minister of Education, Raúl Figueroa, values the document delivered by the experts, especially for its “curricular prioritization, diagnosis with a socio-emotional focus and the educational channel TVEduca”.
“Repetition is an extremely exceptional measure in our system, and that is the criterion that must prevail in this complex year. Regarding the Simce, it is important to emphasize that this is a very important tool to know the reality of the establishments, but especially to meet those who have presented the most difficulties in the pedagogical process, and thus focus support. It is in this aspect that we should focus the debate ”, he says.
The Social Table Covid-19 also proposes that, considering that attendance could be low once the schools reopen, due to the fear of families sending their children, the Mineduc must design a payment mechanism for municipal and private schools subsidized, since this system is based on assistance.
“This mechanism could consider a minimum payment floor to avoid underfunding, combined with a historical average of assistance on that floor. In other words, there should be an average attendance floor for all schools, but if the average of a particular establishment is higher than the floor, give it that greater contribution, “they detail.
Regarding these proposals, the director of the Observatory of Digital Educational Practices of the UC Faculty of Education, Magdalena Claro, is one of the experts who prepared the document, and explains that the proposal “seeks to convey the message that we are available to to work concretely with educational actors to face difficulties and obtain learning from this period of emergency education ”.
Alejandra Mizala, director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Education and CIAE of the U. de Chile, adds that the plan has a short, medium and long-term perspective. “This period can be an opportunity to enhance learning in other formats that allow meaningful learning and an opportunity to develop key subject skills, and not just content.”
Academics, professors and researchers from the UC Faculty of Education and the Institute of Advanced Studies in Education of the University of Chile participated in the report, with the collaboration of 27 academics and experts from other universities and study centers.
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