Education must transform societies, and, for this, it cannot adopt a merely rote role of repetition of outdated concepts but rather respond to the expectations and needs of the world around us to guarantee its relevance and effectiveness, seeking at all times educational quality, inclusion and employability for the common benefit.
How can we achieve this convergence between education and society? How do we guarantee educational quality, inclusion in all sectors, and students’ employability? The answer to these questions is complex but responds to several factors.
The exchange of ideas and criteria between experts led to valuable conclusions that highlight the importance of an education that not only meets technical standards but also promotes the comprehensive development of individuals.
To achieve this, Cifuentes assures that it is important to begin the transformation from the initial levels of education, balancing practical teachings, student impetus, and theoretical programs in a phased manner until higher education.
“Early education is the basis of any country-educational project and is probably a pending challenge for our societies in the Latin American environment. In this sense, the logical sequence is to induce early education that balances the practical with the theoretical and that, in a phased manner, leads us to high professional standards at the university,” he says.
The speakers agreed that educational quality is manifested when there is relevance in the search for solutions that allow for achieving a higher level of development.
This implies not only solid technical training but also the strengthening of soft skills and life skills. The objective is to form complete individuals whose graduate profile includes aspects of the being, that is, personal and social dimensions beyond academic knowledge.
Furthermore, according to Haug, educational institutions must find a way to integrate new technologies, listening to the expectations of students born with the innovation chip.
“It seems vital to me to integrate these new developments from childhood, but without abandoning the responsibility of families, the educational world and politicians in training for the responsible use of new technologies. I don’t know exactly what it entails and how it can be achieved, but it seems vital to me to emphasize the need to put technologies at the service of humans, not the other way around,” says Haug.
The expert indicates that the implementation of advances in science and technology in classrooms predicts a bright future for education as long as it is done correctly.
“What should be sought are processes that use the high educational and social potential of technologies and put them at the service of humanity and avoid processes of standardization, domination and exclusion. The fundamental challenge will be to avoid a dictatorship of technologies and those who create and use them in their exclusive interest,” he points out.
In turn, Cifuentes considers that, currently, there is a dissonance between the teacher training programs carried out by many universities and what students demand, generating a gap between teachers and their students and causing noise in the teaching processes. -learning.
“What’s more, teacher training programs still emphasize mastery of new technologies and forget, in many cases, that the biggest change is occurring in students who do not want the same things,” he adds.
Both agreed that accreditations and certifications are important but should not be seen as an end in themselves. Instead, they should function as guidelines that standardize some practices and enable continuous improvement within educational institutions.
On the other hand, they maintain that true quality is reflected in the relevance of the acquired skills concerning the demands of the labor market and in the employability of graduates.
The RAUI coordinator indicates that, for this reason, it is important to promote those skills that focus on technology and “know-how” and that, in addition, we share a common vision about the social and moral ethics of our societies and developing technological skills.
A key distinction discussed was the difference between conformity to standards and true educational quality. While standards and good practices are necessary, quality is understood as adapting the acquired skills to the real needs of the labor market and the students.