Illiteracy and literacy training in Latin America and the Caribbean

Educationist and linguist. Professional activity in Nicaragua (1980–86) and Ecuador, particularly in the adult education sector. Has been engaged in educational research sine 1980 and has acted as education adviser in a number of countries. Was Director of Education for the Monseñor Léonidas Proaño National Literacy Compaign carried out in Ecuador in 1989. Is currently adviser to the National El Ecuador Estudia Programme. Author of many publications on adult education, including: Nicaragua, revolución popular, educación popular (Mexico City, 1985); Educación popular: un encuentro con Paulo Freire (Quito, 1986); Alfabetización popular: diálogo entre 10 experiencias de Centro-américa y el Caribe (Quito, 1987); Discurso y práctica en educación popular (Quito, 1988; Ijuí, 1988); Entre la acción y la praxis: crónica de un proceso de formación de educadores populares (Quito, 1989); El nombre de Ramona Cuji. Reportajes de la Campaña Nacional de Alfabetización Monseñor Léonidas Proaño' (Quito, 1990).     

Wild botanic gardens as valuable resources for innovative environmental education programmes in Latin America

Wild botanic gardens consist of natural or semi-natural land remnants immersed in large urban areas or botanic gardens, which are managed for purposes of biodiversity preservation and public recreation. In Latin America, they tend to be affected by budget limitations; however, they serve as valuable resources that permit the development of innovative environmental education programmes. Specifically, we are considering the appropriateness of implementing critical environmental education and socio-constructivist programmes. As for practical considerations, it is important to include diverse epistemologies, and therefore, strategies or procedures characteristic of science teaching, such as problem-based learning, together with other characteristics of social activism and popular education initiatives, such as assemblies or meetings, and others characteristic of more traditional and indigenous worldviews, such as celebrations of the earth. In this way, Latin American wild botanic gardens may play a role in constructing environmentally responsible societies and the nurturing of a culture of reflective inquiry.     

Internationalisation in higher education in Latin America: policies and practice in Colombia and Mexico

There is now an extensive literature about internationalisation in higher education. However, much of the research relates to North America and Europe. This paper is concerned with internationalisation in Latin America and seeks to consider perceptions and experiences in Colombia and Mexico, and to compare practice in the public and private sectors. Based on detailed analysis of interviews with senior managers in six universities, the paper shows a growing level of activity, with some increasing levels of planning and strategy. Important differences are identified in the response of public and private universities, reflecting funding differences and freedom to determine institutional priorities.     

Education and colonial language policies in Latin America and the Caribbean

In Latin America governmental responses to the language issue have ranged from suppression of non-European languages to active promotion of at least a limited bilingualism. The thesis of this article is that the inconsistencies are primarily a function of economic and social struggles among contending national elites with the common goal of compelling subordinate groups to adapt to the behaviors and expectations of the elite groups. Not until the nineteenth century witnessed a shift to capital-intensive modes of production did the schools become a major locus for implementation of governmental policy. Then the schools were called upon in a direct and massive way to augment traditional forms of social control.

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Zusammenfassung In Latein-Amerika reichte die Reaktion der Regierungen auf sprachliche Probleme von der Unterdrückung nicht-europäischer Sprachen bis zur aktiven Förderung wenigstens einer begrenzten Zweisprachigkeit. Dieser Artikel vertritt den Standpunkt, die Gegensätze seien hauptsächlich bedingt durch wirtschaftliche und soziale Kämpfe zwischen wetteifernden nationalen Führungsschichten, die alle das gleiche Ziel verfolgen, untergeordnete Gruppen zu zwingen, die Verhaltensweisen und Erwartungen der Führungsgruppen zu übernehmen. Erst als sich das 19. Jahrhundert allmählich auf kapital-intensive Produktionsweisen umstellte, wurden die Schulen in höherem Masse Zuchtstätten der Regierungspolitik. Danach wurden sie unmittelbar und massiv aufgerufen, traditionelle Formen der Gesellschaftskontrolle zu verstärken.

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Résumé En Amérique Latine les réponses gouvernementales à la question du langage sont passées d'une suppression des langages non-européens à leur promotion active, ou du moins à un certain bilingualisme. La thèse de cet article est que ces inconséquences sont avant tout fonction des luttes économiques et sociales entre les élites nationales en présence dont le but commun est de contraindre les groupes subordonnés à s'adapter à leurs manières d'être et à leurs expectations. Ce n'est qu'après que le dixneuvième siècle ait été le témoin d'un glissement vers des méthodes de production à haute teneur en capitaux que les écoles sont devenues le locus principal de mise en oeuvre de la politique gouvernementale. On a eu, alors, recours aux écoles d'une façon directe et massive pour augmenter les formes traditionnelles de contrôle social.

     

Adult literacy education and development in Thailand: an historical analysis of policies and programmes from the 1930s to the present

This study of adult literacy education in Thailand analyses the ways in which the Thai state has historically shaped adult literacy education policies for development. For the authoritarian Thai state of the 1940s and 1950s, literacy education was a means of promoting nationalism through an imagined community of Thai citizens. For the developmentalist state of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, literacy education was the means to create a new Thai working class for industrial capitalism and export-oriented growth. For the liberal democratic state of the 1990s, literacy education was re-oriented toward a post-Fordist economy. Most recently, in the wake of the 1997 economic crisis and subsequent IMF and ADB ‘structural adjustment’ policies, state educational policies have shifted to an emphasis on fiscal economics over education. While state ideologies of educational policy are dominant in this historical narrative, they also possess internal contradictions contested by popular movements and social groups outside dominant classes. Literacy education in Thailand is, as such, not only the site of production and reproduction of state ideologies, but also of struggles over their meaning. Thus we find within the authoritarian nationalism of the 1940s and 1950s, a movement for popular democracy through literacy education born of the 1932 Revolution; within the work-oriented literacy programs of the 1970s, a trend towards broader community development inspired by the student revolution of October 1973; and within the neoliberal Thai state's embrace of globalization, a call for further democratization of educational opportunities first promoted by the May 1992 uprising and then embodied in the new Constitution of 1997 and the Education Act of 1999.     

Adult education and indigenous peoples in Latin America

This article describes the educational situation of indigenous peoples in Latin America, and in particular their scant participation in adult education activities. It analyses the historical, structural and institutional barriers to their greater involvement in adult education. The article proposes to look at indigenous demands on education as a potential way out of educational stagnation of indigenous adults, which is one of the challenges clearly formulated by UNESCO member states during CONFINTEA VI as a priority to be faced. The article concludes arguing the case for intercultural education, not only among indigenous peoples, but for the whole of the population, to be a guiding philosophy for education in general and adult education in particular in Latin American countries. It emphasises the fact that this cannot be achieved without the active participation of indigenous peoples themselves.     

拉丁美洲高等教育大众化探析

拉丁美洲国家在二十世纪六七十年代基本实现了高等教育大众化 ,采取的主要政策与措施包括改革公立高等教育 ,发展多层次的私立高等教育 ,创建公私立学校趋同的新型办学模式等。拉美国家高等教育大众化的成果是明显的 ,但也带来了职业分层化和投资效益低下等问题 ,其过度发展高等教育 ,忽视基础教育的教训应引起我们的警觉     

Trends in technical-vocational and secondary education in Latin America

This paper briefly reviews the development of technical-vocational education in Latin America in connection with the development of general secondary education prior to the recognition of the former as an integral part of secondary education leading to further education. It then concentrates on examining the major issues arising from the introduction of the latest education reforms in the degree of education, which reassesses the orientation of middle-level education with a view to establishing a stronger link between education and employment.     

Multilateral agencies and higher education reform in Latin America

During the last decade, the debate over higher education took up a significant space on the agendas of various international agencies, including multilateral development banks and other intergovernmental agencies. This fact points to the importance of the subject within a broader discussion that refers to national development projects and their articulation within the new international economic and political order. In this context, the purpose of this article is to discern the principal lines of argument at work and their implications for the transformation of higher education in Latin America. To this end, we have chosen four cases that we consider relevant for the region: The United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the World Bank, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLA) and the Interamerican Development Bank (IADB). In the first part of the text we characterize the particularities of each of these organizations, highlighting their relation with the processes of educational change. In the second, we approach the subject of the recommendations made by the multilateral agencies on change in the higher education systems in the world and, particularly, in the Latin American region.