When we arrived at the school this morning there were parents everywhere. They had just completed a meeting to hear about the new law from the Ministry of Education, extending school in 2016 to a full day. It means that students will not be dismissed at 1:30pm (currently the end of the half-day), but will be required to attend until 3pm.
We headed for the library and sat and listened to the end of a class with the seniors (11th graders). They were the only students required to come to school today.
At 9am the teachers arrived to start their professional day. The first session was to learn about the implementation plan for the new law extending the day to a full day. The goal was to begin the full day in 2016 (they start the school year in January) and to address the need for infrastructure during the time between now and the implementation. A major concern was building in a lunch period and meeting the government's requirements for a space where the girls could eat. Currently, only one grade from first to fourth grades can be fed lunch in school and so they rotate the lunch period and on those days that grade stays later for afternoon classes. Others are dismissed after the half day. Students in grades above 4th must bring their own lunch or buy it from the canteen.
The new full day schedule will require more tables and chairs and a location for lunch. The teachers are asking for a cover for the courtyard so that it won't be so hot. Teachers will also need lunch and though the government doesn't require the school to provide teachers lunch, Sister Marina says that if they are hungry they can't teach. She has promised to provide lunch for them. Finally, the teachers will need to be assigned a rotating lunch duty for the first time.
Other concerns were raised about the schedule, the longer hours for the teachers (2 per day) and how they will make use of those two hours. Sister responded to any opposition with a firm statement about the benefits to children of the new plan. She said that if the children are in school longer hours the school can take care of them. This is especially compelling in a low income community. She also believes that the extra hours will allow teachers to do innovative things in the classroom that don't have time for currently.
The options for teachers were outlined: teachers could accept the longer hours and receive additional pay or the school would hire a complementary teacher to cover the extra hours at one end of the day or the other. She reminded them that having a complementary teacher would require coordination between the two teachers. Sister later told us that teachers are free to stay or leave, but she is sure that they won't find a better school and will stay.
The teachers' main concern was that they had not been consulted by the government prior to the passing of the law. This seemed to be a long-term problem with education law and the reality is that the school will have to develop infrastructure at the same time that the government is mandating implementation.
During the second session we, the GCC participants, facilitated a discussion of Global Competency. We asked the teachers to brainstorm words and ideas that help to define the term "global competency." Marian explained that in Spanish the word "competencia" can mean competency, but it can also mean competition. Among the words the groups came up with were, for competency: efficient effective, involvement, talented, abilities, ability to apply knowledge. They said that the government defines competency as knowing what to do with knowledge. For global: interdisciplinary, knowledge, students cannot learn alone, transnational world, remove barriers, not the view of one person.
A discussion afterwards led to one teacher saying that it was all about finding Unity within diversity.
We ended the day with a discussion about teaching English. Listening to Julio, a World Teach visitor from Minnesota, talk about being asked about America all the time, it sounded so much like my experience in Taiwan 40 years ago. The fact that he represents a culture that is attached to the reason these students need English is all that matters. Their ability to connect to him is evidence that they are more connected somehow to the English-speaking world. They have been "exposed." It is amazing to think that with all the change that has occurred for students since 1975, the introduction of the internet and social media, the development of a global economy, the ease of travel especially for business, that this is the case. Is it that the human connection is primary to any meaningful interaction across languages and cultures? Is it that the internal violent conflicts within Colombia have kept it isolated from any engagement with the world outside of Colombia for so long and they are just catching up?
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