This year is the first year that the Alma Foundation is working with students. They are university students who are training for five years to be teachers in Bolivian public schools at the Clara Parada Higher Teacher Training School in Pinto. In order to get to this point last year we did a lot of research on how these students are trained, how they do their internships and what their needs and main interests are. I think that this allowed us to propose a more specific project but also one that works on training from Alma in a more complex and profound way.
Since February we have been working with students on two lines of training: the first is aimed at giving workshops where a large number of students from a certain year of training participate and the second refers to a support process through which we guide students in the application of our proposal that is taught in the workshops, this through personalized sessions.
Through workshops and support, we support students in the essential practices that they carry out each year of training for their degree or for their approval of the next grade, known as IEPC-PEC. Being closely involved in supporting a crucial task for teaching has allowed us to learn about the work of students and also to be closer as an institution to the academic processes and activities of daily life at ESFM.
Thus, to date we have been invited to participate in two fairs to present materials for the IEPC-PEC practices of 4th and 5th year of training; in them we were able to see how the students included our strategies and worked on materials to implement them in the classrooms where they will carry out their practices with real students. In these spaces, eye-catching materials are displayed, but students are also given the opportunity to explain their pedagogical activities.
Without a doubt, being present at these activities and being able to witness how the students took ownership of the different strategies that are part of Alma’s proposal gives us great satisfaction; especially after working for years with already trained classroom teachers with whom the results could not always be seen so quickly. We believe that working with students who will be future teachers allows us to work on their training process, which guarantees deeper changes in them and also changes in the education of public schools in the future.
By:
Leonel Saavedra Caceres
Departmental Coordinator Beni
Fundación Alma
Fair for the presentation of materials for the IEPC-PEC
4th year students of ESFM Clara Parada de Pinto training.
Trinidad – Beni – Bolivia
Fair for the presentation of materials for their IEPC-PEC
4th year students specializing in Foreign Language ESFM Clara Parada de Pinto.
Trinidad – Beni – Bolivia