National Academy of Sciences warns there is no basis for changing high school curriculum | newspaper

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The National Academy of Sciences of Uruguay has decided to send to the National Administration of Public Education (ANEP) a document analyzing the curriculum transformation implemented by the organization, specifically in secondary education. Although the Central Council of the National Renewable Energy Agency has approved in recent weeks the final curricula, first for the fourth year and then for the fifth and sixth years, the document approved last week indicates the content of the initial version of the plan, which has been circulating since August.

According to the document he obtained newspaperThe institution expressed its “concern and concern” about the content of the changes. Specifically, it was stated in the plan that “reducing hours or merging specialties is not properly justified” in the plan, and that, in short, “modifications are proposed without analyzing the disadvantages of the current or the virtues of the new.” “In this way, some new developments may mean greater setbacks regarding the current situation,” he added.

The Academy raises doubts about the “merging of basic knowledge topics with technological knowledge topics” such as that raised by the initial document between physics and robotics, a change that was rejected in the final version. However, this type of curriculum has been integrated into the subject of astronomy in the final version, which will be called Space Sciences and Applied Technologies. The document raises “many doubts about the pedagogical and educational approach in place, the basic objectives that are supposed to be conveyed, as well as the way in which the competencies that are supposed to be guaranteed” will be ensured with this type of merger.

Regarding astronomy, the scientific establishment claims that it “does not understand” why it was removed from the compulsory subjects and turned into an elective subject. Moreover, he points out, the space allocated to electives “can be misleading, because it is not the student who decides which elective to take; the decision, it seems, is in the hands of the high school.”

The Academy also criticizes the “conflict between competencies and knowledge planned in all documents” of the current reform, and recognizes that this “must be duly qualified so that both teaching staff and students” do not fall into one unnecessarily. “From extremism or they end up trapped in false binaries.”

The memorandum also points out the role that teacher training should play in the reform process, indicating that it must be strengthened, also at the budget level, and that it must be thought of in line with changes to the curriculum for compulsory education. As it was added, incentives should be considered “to ensure that teachers in particularly vulnerable areas are trained and have special training in technology, in such a way that those who have been trained are able to transfer this knowledge and truly incorporate it into curriculum units.” “.

Regarding how the changes should have been addressed, the National Academy of Sciences considers “dialogue with academic actors” to be essential and emphasizes that Uruguay has a “wide network” of this type of institution. Since the Academy recognizes that processes of educational transformation “must be long-term and permanent,” it states that “the pressing imperatives imposed by the political life of our country should not be an obstacle to the increased and consistent application of these collective processes.” The construction aims to ensure the best for the country and its educational system. In this regard, while acknowledging the consultations conducted by the National Energy Agency to build the documents, the scientific establishment recognizes that these consultations were “inadequate” at the time of publication of the initial document.

The text was prepared by a working group of the National Academy of Sciences of Uruguay, composed of academics from various scientific disciplines, whether natural sciences, social sciences or humanities, who held meetings with ANEP members. As he knew newspaperHowever, the way the organization’s board of directors approved the document caused some members of the group that worked on it to be upset. This happened because the approval came after the coordinating body had begun to define the final framework of the curriculum and because the Academy’s Board of Directors ordered that the text not be published and that it be sent directly to the National Energy Agency.