Developing Education in Latin American Countries

Increasing the quality of Education in Latin American Countries

José Luis Llumiquinga Molina

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to analyze the ways in which Latin American countries can improve their education. Latin American countries have always been classified as underdeveloped and poor, and one of the causes for which they have been classified as poor and underdeveloped is because of the low level of education that these countries have. There are some things that can be done to improve the education of growing nations. This study shows with practical things, the actions that the Latin American’s governments can do like investing in teachers training, buying technology equipment or focusing on student’s innovation and creativity. The expected results in this work should show that with these changes education must improve significantly. In conclusion to improve education in Latin countries the different states must invest in key areas for education.

Key Words: Education, Latin American Countries, teacher training, technology, innovation and creativity

Nations in other parts of the world have always classified Latin American countries as developing countries and this is due to low levels of education and poverty present in Latin America. Each year, international exams such as the PISA show that Latin American countries are below the international average in education. (Pisa results in focus, 2012). For a country, it depending on others and become a productive power and leader in knowledge, it is necessary that education be taken more into account by Latin American governments, who should invest more in this field. In addition to the investments in infrastructure that governments can make must they invested in the greatest productive force of all that is the strength of people. Governments must invest in the education of people so that they can overcome themselves and not depend on the charity of others. Latin American education quality can be improved by investing in the following three key points of education: teacher training, the use of new technology and the promotion of student´s interest in innovation and creativity

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” (Quotes about Education, n.d.). The teachers of any educational institution in the world are fundamental for the process of teaching young learners to be effective, teachers are the guides of their students because they are the ones who bring new knowledge to their students and arouse interest of their students in some future profession, teachers are forming the future of society; That is why it is necessary for teachers to be able to teach correctly, that is to say that their students take ownership of the knowledge with the help of the teacher, then good education would be achieved with educational training of teachers with periodic tests and agreements with international universities that improve the education of teachers.

In order for a teacher to teach his students correctly, the teacher must have all his knowledge updated and this is achieved thanks to continuous training as has been done in Ecuador since 2008. Another way to keep trained teachers is through periodic tests that require teachers to study regularly to ensure that their knowledge is updated. An example of periodic test is the evaluations made in Malaysia to teachers, “A total of 1,022 English teachers are now undergoing the Cambridge Placement Test (CPT) in their respective districts in Sabah. Education Director Datuk Jame Alip (pic) said on Wednesday the course is aimed to improve their English skills and teaching pedagogy methods” (Malaysia, n.d.).

Another way to train teachers is to give them the opportunity to get fourth-level titles like in Finland. Teachers in Latin American countries must have opportunities to progress and increase their knowledge to improve their educational capacities and thus improve the overall education of a nation since the education of a country does not improve only by investing in the infrastructure of educational institutions But that investment in one of the most important parts of education prevails, this part is the teachers who, by giving them the opportunity to become learned in their subject matter, is contributing to the teachers being able to explain very easily one Theme and thus contribute to quality education.

Quality education is something that can be achieved by giving greater importance to the education and training of teachers, a training that must be continuous and with the opportunity to study in international universities that give teachers more experience and knowledge to the Teachers therefore a real education is given when all members of this process, especially teachers, have adequate levels of training to provide an education that is beneficial to young people who in the future will be contributing with great knowledge to society .

“Technology is nothing. The important thing is that you have faith in people, that they are basically good and intelligent, and if you give them tools, they will do wonderful things with them” (Jobs, n.d.). The second key pint, technology in classrooms is an important resource to improve education in any part of the world because with technology, access to information is very easy, it also promotes research because with technological equipment, the speed with which it is Access to information is the best, so one way to get a better education is through investments by the state in computers and the Internet in addition should use free software programs focused on education.

With the provision of computers and internet in different educational institutions can significantly improve the education of students, students who may have never seen a computer in the past can now have the opportunity to learn to use them by breaking many digital gaps, improving Thus substantially the knowledge; The students besides improving their general knowledge could improve their technical knowledge by the simple use of these computational equipment.

Students who already have computers and also access to the Internet will have at their disposal an unimaginable amount of information that they can use to improve their knowledge; This has a risk and is that students believe true everything they find on the internet but with the help of a teacher who guides their students this will not be a problem. Also with internet students can be communicated and thus could work together in an online way

Free software can be a great educational tool because the costs of acquiring these programs do not exist and this means a great saving for educational institutions, who want to acquire didactic teaching programs at a low cost. An example of free software is the program Scratch is “a free programming language and online community developed by the MIT Media Lab’s Lifelong Kindergarten group” (Segal, 2016). This program is an environment in which children can learn to program in a playful and very easy way, in this Program can be programmed games for leisure or games for learning; The Scratch program can be an indispensable learning tool because students have fun while learning and in the end this can be a great way to improve knowledge (Segal, 2016).

There are many other programs that can be of help to students, there are free programs such as google docs that can be used to perform group work regardless of distance, this type of program can be used to improve cooperatives among students. Another very useful program is Duolingo, this is a multiplatform program, that is to say that it can work in computers or any type of Smartphone, this program is free and also is a program that is used to learn other languages ​​through games; This program can be used in classrooms as a complement to normal classes (Segal, 2016).

A very successful way to improve education is the use of technology, states can improve the education of their students through successful investments in computers, internet and over-the-counter programs, this set can become very useful because it improves The knowledge of its students by the new information that they can acquire and by the new skills that can get by the simple use of technological equipment that is why the technology is indispensable for an improvement in educational quality.

“Creativity involves breaking with established patterns to look at things differently” (Las 75 Mejores Frases de Creatividad, n.d.). The last point, Research and creativity are two things that are very closely linked, scientists investigate to solve problems, understand phenomena of nature or to discover something new but this is achieved with creativity because creativity is the basis for the invention of some A new device that helps research creativity helps us to break the rules of the known to look for new things never seen before or even though (Ossola, 2016). So for a person to improve is necessary to create new things, to investigate what he does not understand. Education is the basis for a society to change and improve, but for real education to be a reality students should be encouraged to research and promote creativity.

One way students improve their interest in research is by integrating them into extra-class clubs, these types of clubs must accept students who are curious about the subject even if they have not the slightest idea of what the Club

Student creativity can be greatly enhanced by classroom activities where you have to expose something or demonstrate unprepared skills because students learn to think faster, learn to be resourceful, learn to solve problems faster Definitive are more creative.

An example to improve the creativity of the students is to organize groups, give them different topics and organize debates in which each one has to think quickly what he is going to say.

Quality in education is achieved with many factors but one of the most important are those that involve the student’s interest in research and the student’s ability to be creative, and this is achieved with the student’s motivation to discover new things as Is given in the case of extracurricular clubs and with the creativity of the student that is given when he learns to think and to develop quickly; That’s why students who are happier doing what they like are the ones with the most knowledge.

Conclusion

To finish education is an issue that should be of paramount importance for all governments in the world because education is able to overcome poverty and grow not only economically but culturally so that the Latin American people leave behind all that History of poverty and ignorance should improve the education of their youth and to achieve this requires that teachers constantly update their knowledge so that they can teach the right to their students and adequately; It is necessary to invest in technological equipment that will help in the classes and the students must be inculcated the interest in the investigation and the capacity to be creative so that they themselves are the ones that generate their own knowledge and in the future they become people Critical In order to improve education in Latin American countries, a comprehensive work by governments involving both teachers and students and technological infrastructure is needed.

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