More than a dozen students, graduates, and faculty members from the Institute of Education participated in the seminar “Latin American Dialogues of Doctoral Students in Education”: an event designed to promote networking and create a space for dialogue and collaboration among students and academics from Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay.
The event took place virtually from August 3 to 6, 2021, as part of a partnership between the Doctor of Education program at the University of San Andrés (Argentina), the Doctor of Education programs at Diego Portales University and Alberto Hurtado University (Chile), and the Doctor of Education program at Universidad ORT Uruguay.
The event unfolded in several phases. First, there was an opening lecture—open to the general public and titled “Generating Knowledge in Education from the Global South”—during which the seminar’s main themes were outlined.
Second, two days of concurrent thematic workshops, during which doctoral candidates from Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay discussed the progress of their research with their peers, faculty members from various universities, and graduates of the doctoral programs.
Third and finally, a closing session, during which the lead scholars summarized the discussions from the previous days.
What was it like to participate in the seminar? What are your overall impressions? How will the seminar help doctoral candidates develop their research theses? What did you learn from the experience? Marina Melani and Pablo Camps, two students in the Doctor of Education program at Universidad ORT Uruguay, shared their experiences after attending the seminar.
“A motivational boost”
When Marina Melani saw the details of the event, she didn’t hesitate to sign up. Some time ago, the doctoral student in education at Universidad ORT Uruguay attended a similar event, which she had found very helpful.
And, once the day was over, she felt that the seminar had given her a “motivational boost.” On the one hand, because she sensed interest in the work she has been doing for the past three years. On the other hand, because she felt supported and had the opportunity to connect with students who were in a similar situation to her own.
The event gave the future Doctor of Education candidates a chance to take a break from their research and reflect on the progress they had made. The participants went through a peer-reviewed process in which they had to prepare a written and an oral presentation, which—in Melani’s words—encouraged them to recognize their progress, but also the areas that still need work.
Pablo Camps, another student in the ORT doctoral program who participated in the seminar, agreed. He saw it as a “promising opportunity” to take a break from fieldwork and try to summarize and communicate the research he is conducting: “In the processes of synthesis and schematization, the researcher reviews and reinterprets their work. And, through dialogue with qualified peers, they enrich it.”
Receiving feedback from renowned scholars in their respective fields, as well as from individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences, was one of the aspects highlighted by both doctoral candidates.
In particular, Camps emphasized that the feedback he received was “extremely helpful,” as it made him reflect on aspects of his work that he hadn’t previously considered. “Exchange always adds value, so I definitely consider the experience to have been positive,” Melani added.
“Listening to and analyzing the proposals of other doctoral students helps clarify one’s own research work and satisfies the need for culture and knowledge that we have as education professionals,” said Camps.
Learning about research proposals using different methodologies, sharing experiences with other students, and grappling with questions and uncertainties regarding their own work were among the other aspects that the students highlighted as valuable aspects of the seminar.
However, specifically, what lessons did they take away? “I believe that lessons are internalized over time, but the way the commentators addressed me has had an impact on the development and consolidation of criteria for analyzing academic work,” said Camps.
“It was a good opportunity to practice understanding what questions arise regarding my research and to anticipate potential questions that might come up during my thesis defense,” Melani said. “In addition, having to communicate our research concisely to an audience that isn’t yet familiar with it was a challenging and enriching exercise,” she concluded.
The Importance of a Seminar for Doctoral Students
“These events are invaluable for enriching doctoral students’ educational experiences, receiving personalized and diverse feedback on their proposals, practicing how to present their work, and building networks of researchers working on related or complementary topics,” summarized Dr. Mariela Questa Torterolo, who served as host and discussant for one of the seminar’s workshops.
The associate academic coordinator of the Master’s in Educational Management and the Master’s in Trainer Development highlighted the presence of reflective processes aimed, on the one hand, at “questioning current policies” and, on the other, at proposing “solutions to diverse and innovative research problems.”
“The doctoral students’ strong commitment to the educational process was evident, particularly in their critical inquiry and the development of theoretical frameworks that incorporate a pluralistic perspective on paradigms and conceptual trends,” added Mariela Questa Torterolo.
“The importance of an event like this is undeniable. The seminar provided a tremendous opportunity to share experiences and ongoing research projects designed and carried out by doctoral students from the three countries,” said Dr. Denise Vaillant.
The dean of the Institute of Education and academic director of ORT’s Doctor of Education program highlighted the value for Uruguayan students of being able to participate in an exchange program with peers and academics from the region: “Our university is committed to internationalization and academic mobility, with an emphasis on the region, within the framework of a model of cooperation in educational research.”
He also noted that it was a “great pleasure” to have been able to bring to fruition, through the seminar, an idea that the organizing universities had been considering for some time: establishing an exchange network. “We hope that, in the future, joint research projects will materialize in the various fields of study that were addressed during the seminar,” he added.
Martín Rebour—deputy academic coordinator of the Doctorate and Master’s programs in Education at Universidad ORT Uruguayechoed this sentiment, noting that the experience had been “very enriching” for the Institute of Education and had helped strengthen ties with other universities and academic teams.
Rebour, who served as a discussant in one of the workshops, explained that it wasn’t just the students who benefited from the experience of presenting the progress of their research—some of which was in its early stages, while others were in more advanced phases. For the faculty, it provided an opportunity to engage with colleagues from the region, learn about their research areas, and reflect on the “challenges of mentoring doctoral students at this time.”
“We hope this event will be the first of many to come and that, at the same time, we will be able to foster greater interaction among all those involved,” Rebour said.
Likewise, Dr. Mercedes Di Virgilio—director of the Doctoral Program in Education at the University of San Andrés (Argentina) and the speaker delivering the opening remarks at the seminar—celebrated the “opportunity for this gathering.” She also emphasized the importance of building networks that contribute to the academic development of students in the three doctoral programs, since, in her view, “academic socialization is part of doctoral training.”
Generating educational knowledge from the Global South
What happens when we look at education policies from the perspective of the Global South?
“Education policy in the United States is not the same as in Uruguay, Chile, or Argentina,” said Dr. Jason Beech, a professor at Monash University (Australia). In the opening lecture of the seminar “Latin American Dialogues of Doctoral Students in Education”—titled “Producing Knowledge in Education from the South”—he reflected on research regarding educational policies and, in particular, on the challenges of producing knowledge from the South.
In Beech’s words, education policy is a “changing and unstable entity” that is difficult to understand because it is constantly evolving. It is therefore essential to approach it as a dynamic entity: “To consider the diversity of contexts in which it is embedded, the trajectories involved, how policies change, and how they are shaped by these contexts.”
Policies always have consequences, even if they are not the ones intended. And studying them from the Global South affects not only the subject of the research but also the researchers themselves, because—as Beech put it—each person has a “specific stance and perspective.”
However, he cautioned against provincialism: “Conducting research in the south should not mean closing ourselves off to the idea that we are so different from the rest of the world that it is not worth looking at what is being done elsewhere.” He advised future Doctor of Education candidates to find and develop their own identity as researchers and to discover the “uniqueness of our south.”
"How can we move forward? Improving research conditions and securing more funding for research, fostering collaboration among different doctoral programs, and developing outlets for publishing academic work were some of the suggestions Beech offered."
A different perspective
“The policies implemented in many of our countries have, in some cases, been successful. But in others, they serve as a vivid example of what not to do when it comes to educational reform,” said Dr. Denise Vaillant.
The dean of the Institute of Education at Universidad ORT Uruguay, who served as a commentator at the seminar’s opening session, added that “there is clear evidence that some of the policies implemented had little impact on improving learning outcomes for children and young people”: “Often, there is no correlation between what is said, what is outlined in the plans, the resources invested, and the actual impact in the classroom.”
One possible explanation, in his view, is that traditional policies and approaches cannot resolve the “many debts of the past” that Latin American education systems have accumulated. It is therefore essential to find new paths and “a different lens through which to view things.” We must also move toward policies that have concrete effects on the ground.
In closing, he emphasized the need to reflect on how to advance a research agenda “tailored to the specific constraints of this part of the world.” “It is unlikely that our countries will be able to integrate into the global agenda unless we find new models for generating knowledge that are effective and take into account the region’s unique characteristics.”
“Research on education policy often deals with different realities. The lines of thought that emerge from our realities are important and meaningful because they relate to the conditions that define us,” Vaillant said.
For more inclusive dialogues
In May 2018, Chile saw one of the largest feminist marches to date. Universities and high schools were occupied. According to Dr. Alejandra Falabella—academic secretary of the Doctorate in Education at Alberto Hurtado University and Diego Portales University (Chile)—one of the demands made by the students was that the recommended readings in the curricula be reviewed from a gender perspective.
“Indeed, in our courses, we professors tend to read works by white men from the United States and Europe,” she noted, and with that in mind, she called for “seeking out more inclusive dialogues and readings.” “Who do I talk to? Who do I read? Who do I write with? Who do I want to read my work? These are important questions to consider as we train and as we practice academia,” she added.
At the same time, Falabella—who spoke at the opening session of the “Latin American Dialogues of Doctoral Students in Education”—highlighted the value of events of this kind. In his words, organizing the seminar “is not simply adding another activity”; rather, at its core lies an “epistemological vision of knowledge production” and of what it means to “train as researchers.”
“It’s not about becoming an expert and writing a thesis on a subject; rather, it’s an ongoing dialogue,” he concluded.