What kind of schools will we have in the future? What can teachers do to promote strategies that encourage transformation? How do we make the curriculum enthuse, interest and amaze students and turn them into 21st-century citizens? This and other questions have been the backbone of “Docentes conectados” (Connected Teachers), a digital meeting jointly organised by the Telefónica Foundation in Argentina, Mexico and Colombia within the framework of the “Repensando el mañana” (Rethinking Tomorrow) series of conferences, a Telefónica Foundation initiative which aims to be a forum for thought and analysis on the world left behind by this pandemic which has shattered all plans. A series that invites philosophers, scientists, economists, writers and thinkers to reflect and debate on the challenges of the future.
On this occasion, it was teachers who took the floor to talk about education, the challenges it faces and the immense opportunities that have opened up for us “thanks” to the huge shake up with school closures due to the coronavirus. With regards to the good things (there are some) that this exceptional situation has brought us: one example is the involvement of families, which is here to stay, and the enormous commitment of teachers, who have gone above and beyond to ensure their students receive their education, whatever their situation has been.
Because, in the words of the Argentine philosopher and thinker Alejandro Piscitelli, moderator of the meeting, “the pandemic has reintroduced reality into the classroom and, in the case of the school, it has made it turn on itself.” A school, oriented and weighed down by the past, which had been moving in slow motion in the midst of a world that was advancing at breakneck speed. In this new world, the pandemic has brought put them all on an equal footing and this shake up of the world of education “should be more than welcome.”
Piscitelli reflects on all these issues together with the Argentine Anabella González, director of pre-school and primary education; the Colombian teacher, Isabel Cristina Sierra and the Mexican teacher, Carlos Mariano Saldaña. Together, they represent millions of teachers around the world. Don’t miss their interesting reflections.
