colombia educating the most disadvantaged students

colombia educating the most disadvantaged students

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colombia
educating the most
disadvantaged students
Colombia’s Learning Circles provide one model for an innovative
approach to supporting the academic success of youth whose
traditional education has been interrupted for a variety of
reasons.
by Thomas F. luschei and laura Vega
What can the U.S. learn from
colombia?
3Children whose formal schooling
has been interrupted by conflict,
homelessness, or family disruptions
should be reintroduced to school more
slowly and thoughtfully and not merely
returned immediately to traditional
classrooms.
Where can the United States turn for strategies to educate disadvantaged children? Although
Americans often look toward education successes
in Finland and South Korea, these countries have
relatively small populations of children living in extreme disadvantage: In 2012, only 8.8% of Finnish
children and 13.4% of Korean children lived in poverty, compared to nearly one in three children in the
United States (UNICEF Office of Research, 2014).
To identify solutions to our most intractable educational challenges, we must look to nations that have
coped with these challenges for years and identify
those that have developed innovative and successful
solutions. The South American nation of Colombia
provides a good example. Over 38% of Colombian
children live in poverty, and 15.6% live in extreme
poverty (UNICEF, 2010). As a result of years of civil
conflict and violence, an estimated 3.3 to 4.9 million Colombians have been displaced, approximately
Thomas F. luschei ([email protected]) is an associate professor at the School of Educational Studies, Claremont
Graduate University, Claremont, Calif. lauRa Vega is head of
community connections, Fundación Escuela Nueva Volvamos a
la Gente, Bogotá, Colombia.
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Due to its success in Colombia, Escuela Nueva has been adopted in 16 countries,
reaching more than 5 million children worldwide.
10% of the country’s population. About half of the
displaced are children (Ferris & Winthrop, 2010).
Colombia’s “Escuela Nueva” (New School) is one
such program that has achieved remarkable successes
in addressing the educational needs of Colombia’s
most marginalized children. Escuela Nueva’s Circulos de Aprendizaje (Learning Circles) program,
designed to address the educational and social-emotional needs of Colombian children displaced by civil
conflict, uses an accelerated, student-centered, flexible approach to support displaced children socially
and academically until they are ready to transition
to the formal school system.
The Escuela Nueva model
Colombia’s Escuela Nueva model was created in
1975 to confront difficult schooling conditions in
remote, rural schools lacking sufficient resources or
students to provide one teacher per grade. Escuela
Nueva addressed the conditions of these multigrade
schools with a systemic, flexible, and child-centered
approach in which students learn cooperatively with
self-study learning materials while teachers work individually with students or small groups. The model
integrates active and cooperative learning with au50 Kappan
thentic student governance and involvement of the
community, as well as strong teacher professional
development that operates through local teacher
networks (Benveniste & McEwan, 2000; McEwan,
2008).
Evaluations suggest that Escuela Nueva has had
a positive effect on numerous student outcomes,
including mathematics and reading achievement,
self-esteem, participation of girls, and peaceful social
interaction among children (Forero-Pineda, Escobar-Rodriguez, & Molina, 2006). Due to its success
in Colombia, Escuela Nueva has been adopted in
16 countries, reaching more than 5 million children
worldwide (FEN, 2014). Escuela Nueva also has
been adapted to meet the considerable educational
challenges faced by children displaced by violence
and civil conflict in Colombia.
Created in 2001 by the Fundación Escuela Nueva
Volvamos a la Gente (FEN), a Colombian organization that supports and promotes Escuela Nueva,
Learning Circles operate informally to accelerate
instruction and transition displaced children into
formal schools, known as mother schools (MEN,
2006a). Tutors working with groups of 16 to 20 students run Learning Circles using interactive learning
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materials and the student-centered, cooperative, and
flexible Escuela Nueva methodology (MEN 2011,
2012). The Circles’ relatively small size, flexibility,
and emphasis on student well-being allow tutors
to provide personalized attention and adapt to the
needs of children, as well as provide a safe environment for youth to build social and academic skills.
The Circles also promote family and community involvement, and they build skills related to conflict
management, peaceful interaction, and social integration. The flexible and supportive methodology of
the Learning Circles lets children transition much
more quickly to formal schooling than they would if
enrolled directly in mother schools (Colbert, 2009).
Following the model’s learner-centered approach,
Escuela Nueva teachers offer guidance and an appropriate learning environment for students. They
respond appropriately to student needs, whether
academic or social-emotional, so that students receive personalized education. Escuela Nueva learning guides allow students to work by themselves,
in pairs, and in groups, fostering dialogue among
peers and between students and teachers. A senior
member of FEN observed, “these classrooms are not
silent, they shouldn’t be, they have a pedagogical
noise, which means that everybody is working and
interacting with each other.” Learning guides also
encourage direct interaction between students and
their communities through collaborative activities.
For example, learning guides instruct students to
collect stories about their neighborhoods through
interviews with community elders. With the guidance of the Escuela Nueva learning guides, students
also work at home with their families on projects like
building homemade flashlights.
The student-centered principles of Escuela Nueva
have carried over to the Learning Circles, resulting
in substantial differences between the circles and traditional classrooms. A Learning Circles tutor said,
“Learning Circles is fun, it pushes your creativity, it
demands the best of you, demands all your effort all
the time; by comparison, a traditional classroom is
boring” (Vega, 2013, p. 160). Students also perceived
the circles as fun, reporting that they enjoyed learning new things (like writing their names and math
concepts), as well as entertaining activities like coloring, singing, or playing (Vega, 2013). Some students
also recognize the difference between their teachers
at previous traditional schools and their Learning
Circles tutors. A Learning Circles student recalled,
“the [tutor] is really kind and doesn’t punish us like
a teacher I used to have. She grabbed me and pulled
me by the ear [saying to me] go to your chair” (Vega,
2013, p. 171). Like Escuela Nueva, Learning Circles
involves families and communities through activities
and communication. For example, the Learning Cir-
cles use a “traveling notebook” that helps students
share stories about their difficult past or expectations for the future. The notebook goes from home
to home; each temporary keeper writes something
about a specific topic like “my family” or “where I
come from.” At each home, families come together
to narrate their stories in the notebook. After the
notebook returns to the classroom, students share
the stories they wrote with their families (Vega,
2013).
The most important determinant of the
Learning Circles’ success are the tutors,
who are trained and experienced
teachers.
In 2003, the U.S. Agency for International Development funded a pilot study of 19 Learning Circles
serving 210 children in Soacha, a working-class municipality south of the capital of Bogotá with one of
the largest populations of displaced persons in Colombia. The pilot study found increases in formal
school enrollment, higher test scores, and increased
self-esteem of children participating in Learning
Circles. After two years, 54% of children participating in the pilot transitioned to their mother schools;
by 2005, the pilot expanded to 50 Learning Circles
serving 600 children. A UNESCO study comparing test scores of 3rd and 5th graders in Learning
Circles to scores of a control group of students in
conventional schools found that students in Learning Circles had greater improvement in language and
math tests over a one-year period. Fifth graders in
Learning Circles scored 17.3 percentage points over
the national average in math and 13.9 points in language. A study by the Catholic University of Chile
found an increase of 18.5 percentage points in selfesteem levels of children in Learning Circles from
May to November 2004 (Bakhshi, 2008; Colbert,
2009; FEN, 2005a). In 2006, the Learning Circles
program was adopted as official national policy for
integrating displaced migrant children in Colombia’s schools (Colbert, 2009; FEN, 2015). As of 2012,
the program had served more than 37,000 children
in 30 of Colombia’s 32 departments (states).
Learning Circles students
Learning Circles are in marginalized neighborhoods where displaced children live, usually in a
rented house where each room functions as a multigrade classroom. Students, who may be in 1st to 5th
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kappanmagazine.org 51
Foster youth and displaced children
share at least three experiences:
trauma, dislocation, and mobility.
grade, share a small round table — usually six to a
table — as well as necessary school supplies. Students
participating in the Learning Circles have spent at
least six months out of school, and they can stay in
the program for up to one academic year (MEN,
2006b, 2011, 2012). Although the academic year is
eight months long, students can enter the program at
any time of the year. Students work in classrooms five
hours per day, completing 800 hours of study during
the academic year (MEN, 2012). Although Learning
Circles operate outside of formal schools, students
are officially enrolled in their mother schools; Learning Circles share the same calendars, grading systems, and extracurricular activities as their mother
schools.
Learning conditions in the Circles are supported
by curricular materials, flexibility, and support staff.
The program has its own learning materials — which
are adapted from Escuela Nueva learning guides —
that seek to facilitate students’ reintegration into
school. Many participating children have multiple
responsibilities outside of school such as work and
caring for siblings. These students can continue their
academic progress at home, attending class when
they are able. Or they can take their learning guides
home and receive personalized attention from their
tutors. Psychosocial advisers help tutors and students with topics and situations from sex education
to domestic violence, and pedagogical advisers offer
support for tutors to improve teaching and learning
52 Kappan
in the classroom (Vega, 2013; MEN, 2006a, 2012;
FEN; 2005b).
The most important determinant of the Learning
Circles’ success are the tutors, who are trained and
experienced teachers. Tutors are recruited from the
local communities where the Circles are located, so
they often share similar backgrounds with students.
A student interviewed in a recent study of Learning
Circles said the tutors “have known poverty themselves’” (Vega, 2013, p. 158). Students also clearly
cared for and respected their tutors for their teaching
skills and personal qualities. Tutors’ capacity to establish caring relationships was critical for students’
personal and academic process; tutors became mentors, friends, and even parental figures to participating children (Vega, 2013; FEN, 2005b). In fact,
students who had transitioned to mother schools recalled that what they missed most from the Learning Circles were their tutors, specifically “that [they]
spent time explaining the activities to them and helping them understand what the topic or the task was all
about . . . and were good and caring people” (Vega,
2013, p. 172).
Learning Circles are much more likely to be successful if they can guarantee the quality of tutors’ selection and initial training, as well as the continuous
pedagogical and psychosocial support that they need
to be successful. It is also crucial for tutors to focus
on support, instead of supervision, and to avoid getting lost in excessive bureaucracy. Finally, although
Learning Circles is a flexible program, it is also a
highly structured process that includes routines,
agreements, and accountability (Vega, 2013).
Supporting foster children
Foster youth and displaced children share at least
three experiences: trauma, dislocation, and mobility. In both cases, formal education systems are illequipped to tailor instruction and social-emotional
support for these children, so they lag their peers
in terms of educational enrollment and attainment
(Ferris & Winthrop, 2010; Zetlin & Weinberg,
2004). Summarizing research on the school’s role in
improving academic achievement of foster children,
Vacca (2008) writes, “The only way for the foster
child to have a fighting chance . . . is for researchers
and educators to be given incentives by the federal,
state, and local governments to develop and implement innovative programs and interventions that
help these students succeed” (p. 1082). Recent policy
changes in California, for example, have provided
one such incentive by passing legislation that will
provide supplemental funds to districts with large
populations of disadvantaged children, including
low-income, English language learners, and foster
youth. Yet there’s little evidence that California dis-
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tricts have developed innovative interventions for
foster youth. Colombia’s Learning Circles provide
one model for an innovative approach to supporting
the academic success of foster youth.
Whether housed in district headquarters or county
offices of education, or as before- or after-school
programs in highly affected schools, Learning Circles could support foster youth through accelerated
and flexible instruction that provides a smaller and
safer environment than a formal school. Learning
Circles tutors, who may be credentialed teachers or
social workers, can provide foster youth with the social and psychological support required to cope with
the trauma of family dislocation and conflict. These
tutors also have the ability to act as children’s advocates and as liaisons across multiple organizations
and individuals, assisting in the transfer of academic
records to formal schools. The Learning Circles’
flexible and child-centered pedagogical model can
be particularly effective in helping foster youth to
cover instruction and curriculum they miss during
schooling gaps caused by transitions to new homes.
Translating Learning Circles to the U.S. context
would require substantial adaptation to local context and rules, so it is difficult to envision exactly
what a U.S. model would look like. But one thing
is clear: School districts will increasingly feel pressure to address the needs of foster youth and other
displaced youth. As education officials and educators search for promising educational approaches
to support these children, a look to Colombia will
serve them well. K
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