We very often hear from the most diverse quarters that there is a strong need for teachers to update and refine their teaching skills in order to improve the quality of schools in our country. It is not only politicians and government officials the ones who express their concern about this matter, quite often, we hear the same cry of “Save the schools” “Teach our children well” from ordinary citizens like journalists, parents of schoolchildren, scholars, teachers, university students and many others. In passing, haven´t you ever wondered who is going to save journalism that we most agree is in a shambles? and who is going to save us, ordinary citizens, from the pernicious effects of journalism as it is today ? In a country like ours that is used to sailing turbulent waters, this clamour for “quality education” comes as no surprise. I myself frequently heard the same outcry when I was an eighteen year old student of Ciencias de la Educación at Universidad Nacional de la Plata. And, mind you, those were the days that are remembered today as the golden age of our state schools (escuela pública) when supposedly all the teachers were committed to their jobs and did them well ,although all of them did not have any other teacher education, but the one they had got at the highly reputed Normal Schools that were no other than a secondary school with a 5 year plan (yes! Like your “Bachillerato” or “Perito Mercantil”). But what teachers were educated in those schools! What a great example they could be for the present generations! ( usual lamentations) Still in those days nobody talked about “quality education” ,neither did ministry officials summon teachers to “jornadas de capacitación, reflexión, perfeccionamiento” or whatever they are called ,where ingestion of pastries washed down by abundant “mate” or coffee are common. And this does not mean that there are no school heads with the best of intentions that make all possible effort to organize and provide the best quality in-service training they can.
Maybe this summer break is a good opportunity to plan ahead and avail oneself of the necessary material (there´s plenty of this on the web) and counsel and challenge their teachers to make these sessions more profitable for themselves and eventually for their students. After all we all want to “Teach our children well” (Ah! Pastries and “mate” can be kept).
Dr. Omar Villarreal
Editor