Last Thursday, the Ministry of Education presented the new Unicente, Bidocente and Pluridocente (UBP) educational model that will be implemented in the country and with which it seeks to strengthen the cultural diversity of rural localities and nationalities. In these areas, the presence of one teacher for every 25 students is contemplated.
This model, which had guidelines from the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef Ecuador) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Ecuador), was presented by the minister of this branch, María Brown, at the Santiago bilingual intercultural center Quito, in the Colta canton, in the province of Chimborazo.
President Guillermo Lasso presided over the act, in which he indicated that this model “has tools more adapted to the realities and environments of students with more facilities for teachers and greater links with communities.”
It will be implemented in 6,733 schools, of the 16,209 institutions that exist nationwide. There, 182,000 students -out of a school population of 4.3 million- will receive training, based on the principles of “contextualization, flexibility and pedagogical autonomy”.
Contextualization allows, according to the Ministry, to interconnect and complement the educational content with the realities, needs and aspirations of the educational community and its socio-cultural environment.
Flexibility seeks to “preserve national identity and cultural diversity”, while pedagogical autonomy refers to the ability of schools to manage “educational action through activities” that improve learning processes.
This model is also aligned with four educational axes: pedagogical contextualization, teacher support networks, community outreach, and institutionalization. The latter contemplates a teaching profile, a training itinerary, reinforcing the curriculum of the universities for the instruction of teachers and developing a program of pre-professional practices.
| evaluative scale | Meaning | Characteristics | Description | Equivalence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | dominate | The student masters the required learning. | There are no errors in the evaluation activities. | 10 points |
| TO | Acquired | Achieve the required learning. | It presents up to 25% of errors in the evaluative activities. | 9 points |
| EP | In process | It is close to achieving the required learning, for which it requires support from the teacher. | It presents more than 25% and up to 50% of errors in the evaluation activities. | 8 points |
| I | Start | The student is in an initial process, presents difficulties in the development of learning. He needs more time for accompaniment and intervention from the teacher, according to his pace and learning style. | It presents more than 50% of errors in the activities. | 7 points |
| Source: Ministry of Education |
In the first point, for example, the evaluation scale that the students will have is detailed: D, which dominates learning (10); A, who reaches learning (9); EP, which is close to reaching learning (8); and I, which means that it is in difficulties in the development of learning (7).
Of the 6,733 UBP centers, 1,235 are in Manabí, 753 in Loja, 628 in Guayas, 478 in Esmeraldas and 409 in Los Ríos. Other provinces have between 4 (Galapagos) and 300 schools with this model, according to information from this Ministry.
In total there are 4,215 single-teacher schools with 56,256 students; 1,615 bi-teachers with 57,618 students; and 903 pluridocentes with a population of 68,197. The majority of these centers, 65%, are in rural areas, according to information from this State portfolio.
The 10,606 teachers who will work in these schools will be trained with this new system. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
