Education is undergoing a stormy paradigm shift that is constantly calling into question the work of centers and teachers. There is more complexity and more uncertainty. The Christian school, which represents 70% of the charter schools, wanted to point out the essential changes and point out strategies to address them.
“Education today is much more complex than 30 years ago and more is demanded of it, therefore, it has become a space of uncertainty in which teachers are alone,” Joan Mateo, emeritus professor at the UB, described the situation yesterday. and author of the document of conclusions on the strategic reflection of the Federation of the Christian School.
For Mateu, “the idea is that the changes do not overwhelm us.” The document, which proposes six levers of change, has emerged from the debate carried out by 388 teachers in the last two years, according to Meritxell Ruiz, director of the federation, structured by the “social commitment that is our identity as social initiative schools.” It states that we must reconsider the role of teachers, the role of the school, its need to have external agents – business, cultural, social – and the convenience of creating an intelligent ecosystem.
Mateo gave the example of migratory flows and technology, which will continue to grow in the future and that instead of facing them as a problem, they should be assumed as an opportunity. In his opinion, immigration, although it calls for a broad and inclusive educational response (extending education to foreign students), provides a new worldview to native students who are going to live in a plural society. “More than 170 different languages are spoken in Catalonia and that is a great cultural wealth.”
Regarding new technologies, he considered that the debate cannot be reduced to the presence of mobile phones in schools. First, we must be aware that technology is going to have integral importance, especially artificial intelligence. But it must be put at the service of education. Thus, he continued, AIs will be able to provide teachers with the didactic programming of their classroom, including the curricular adaptation of students with special needs. And they will also help students' learning. “But the technological contribution must be a higher educational concept,” he indicated, “either the teachers will make the change or the large corporations will do it, with their lucrative interests.”
Likewise, the new technological era requires a prior commitment to digital equity, the adaptation of teachers to new dynamics, and the development of technologies for the entire community, including families.
The FECC will present the strategic model for the coming years within the framework of the Quòrum 23 congress that will take place in Barcelona on October 19.
