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[Work Plan]
Department of Education, Culture, Science, and Technology
(DECST)
1. Activities Assigned
The Program assigns the following four specific activities
to the Department of Education, Culture, Science, and
Technology:
• Promote cooperation among
educational institutions in different states to facilitate
the incorporation of migrant children into schools and
promote the exchange and training of teachers working in the
field of bilingual and intercultural education.
• Foster the modernization of
curricular standards to introduce standards on job-related
skills.
• Include human rights education
for migrants and their families within the activities of the
Inter-American Program on Education for Democratic Values
and Practices. In particular, consider including education
for migrants and their families in the activities of the
electronic observatory, organizing discussion forums on the
topic, and gathering information on public education
programs for migrants in sending, transit, and receiving
countries.
• Consider the possibility of
periodically organizing a hemispheric seminar for training
public officials in immigration policies and human rights,
as well as in the detection of forged documents, with the
support and participation of specialists, international
organizations, and civil society.
2. Activities Carried Out
Several initiatives were organized by the Department of
Education and Culture (DEC) in 2006 that relate to the
specific activities outlined in the Inter American Program
for Migrants. In the area of education, these activities
were organized within the frameworks of the Inter-American
Program on Education for Democratic Values and Practices and
the Inter American Teacher Educator Network.
With respect to the Inter-American Program on Education for
Democratic Values and Practices, two meetings were held in
2006 that included consideration of topics related to the
promotion of human rights of migrants.
• The Advisory Board Meeting of
the Inter American Program on Education for Democratic
Values and Practices was held in Bogotá, Colombia on April
17-19. The objective of the meeting was to produce specific
recommendations in the three main components of the Program
(Research, Professional Development, and Information
Exchange) in order facilitate the development of a Work Plan
for the Program. The meeting included discussion on
strategies for developing curriculum and teacher training in
multicultural contexts that include vulnerable populations
such as migrants. (for a complete report of this activity
see
www.educadem.oas.org ).
• The Department of Education and
Culture (DEC) and the Secretariat for Public Education of
Mexico (SEP) jointly organized an international seminar on
good practices in citizenship education in Mexico City on
July 4-7, 2006. The event included a panel on civic
education in contexts with indigenous populations, special
education schools, agricultural migrants and multi-grade
schools.
In the framework of the OAS Inter-American Teachers Network
(ITEN) the DEC participated in a meeting of the Commonwealth
Steering Committee on Teacher Migration in April 2006. One
of the main topics of the meeting was to analyze data
gathered on the implementation of the Teacher Recruitment
Protocol. The Protocol seeks to balance the right of a
person to migrate with the responsibility of a government to
develop its human resources and establishes basic labor
standards and rights for recruited teachers working outside
their country of origin. Within the context of the
Inter-American Teacher Educator Network (ITEN), the Network
has established intercultural teacher education in rural
areas to be priority. To this end, the DEC is considering
programming a knowledge-sharing seminar about this topic
with the Pedagogical University of Colombia for late spring
2007 (see below).
Finally, related to the recommended specific activity to
help “Foster the modernization of curricular standards to
introduce standards on job-related skills”, the Department
of Education and Culture helped organize and facilitate a
hemispheric meeting of the coordinators of the FEMCIDI
funded Project “School Management and Certification for
Development and Accreditation of Labor Competencies at the
Upper Secondary Level”. The DEC has provided technical and
administrative support to the project since its launching in
2003. The meeting explored different models for developing
competency-based education systems that can provide more
flexible entry and exit points into the education and the
labor sectors through a system of accreditation and
certification and therefore better address the needs of
mobile populations
3. Activities Being Planned
Current related activities that are initial stages of
planning for 2007 include:
The Inter American Program on Education for Democratic
Values and Practices will feature a special edition in its
on-line bulletin on Human Rights, Education, and Migrants in
the second half of 2007.
Within the framework of the Inter-American Teacher Educator
Network (ITEN), presently DEC is working with ITEN members
to consider the feasibility of two knowledge seminars – one
on the challenges and strategies for rural teachers with
diverse populations and another on intercultural teacher
education with a special focus on indigenous populations.
Finally, within the context of the project of the
Inter-American Committee on Education entitled “Policies and
Strategies for a Successful Transition of Young Children to
Socialization and School,” a collaboration with the Bernard
Van Leer Foundation of the Netherlands will shine special
attention on early childhood education and care programs for
indigenous populations along the borders of several
countries.
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