Closing event of the Process of Complete Training – Guayaramerín District 2023
In the educational district of Guayaramerín, we have carried out a process called “Complete Training since March,” lasting for three months. During this period, in the first semester, we provided training to 39 teachers from public schools in this municipality in the Bolivian Amazon.
The initial month was dedicated to training workshops covering various topics, while the following two months were allocated to a process called “Accompaniment and Follow-up.” Through this process, we established a closer and more personalized interaction with the teachers, offering support and verifying the implementation of acquarided knowledge in their classrooms. To achieve this, we conducted classroom visits and held individual, paired, or group meetings supporting teachers in creating and implementing emotional education and critical thinking strategies, along with the creation of effective lesson plans.
Out of the participating teachers, 25 successfully completed not only the training but also the practical application in the classroom. It is to these teachers that we awarded certification, presenting them with a certificate for their participation in the training and another for practical application. During the closing ceremony, endorsed by the District Directorate and the Urban Teachers Federation, we distributed the respective certificates. One teacher, upon receiving it, exclaimed, “It was worth working for three months.”
As context, it is important to note that in Bolivia, possessing more certificates with training endorsements increases a professional’s opportunities for securing employment. For teachers, this is even more critical, as only specific courses and institutions can endorse their training. It doesn’t matter if a teacher holds a specialty from Harvard; if it is not endorsed by the teacher training institutions of the Ministry of Education of Bolivia, the certificate lacks validity for competing for better job positions or a promotion.
Rather than being annoyed by what that teacher said, it truly made me reflect. While we consistently assert that someone who wants to learn doesn’t care about the certificate, the reality is that in our environment, especially in rural or remote areas, the certificate with endorsement or curriculum validity from a training process is fundamental, especially for the teacher. It not only serves as a motivating element that the teacher can frame and showcase to colleagues, students, and family, as many teachers did on their social media after our event, but it is also a tool through which the trained teacher can apply for a promotion to become a director or maintain their position in the Educational Unit where they work.
Now I truly understand and commit even more to the dual challenge we face in Alma. We must not only strive to provide innovative, quality, and useful content for teachers but also manage and work to obtain certification for training processes with the corresponding endorsement so that they are beneficial for our beneficiary teachers.
Leonel Saavedra Caceres
Beni Coordinator – Bolivia