“The initial training of secondary school teachers has been a top priority on the Latin American education agenda for decades,” said Dr. Denise Vaillant, academic secretary of the Institute of Education at Universidad ORT Uruguay.
According to the article“Initial Training of Secondary School Teachers in Latin America: Dilemmas and Challenges,”this is due to “the bureaucratic organization of training, the disconnect between theory and practice, the excessive fragmentation of knowledge, and the lack of ties to secondary schools.”
In his words, despite attempts to transform the educational landscape, the changes have not been profound: “So far, we’ve been offered ‘more of the same,’ and there are few initiatives that propose meaningful innovations. The strategies implemented have rarely challenged the assumptions embedded in traditional educational models.”
Vaillant’s work synthesizes the available evidence and, in turn, prompts reflection on future challenges and dilemmas regarding the initial training of secondary school teachers.
“Initial Teacher Education for Secondary Education in Latin America: Dilemmas and Challenges” appears in volume 23, issue 3 of Profesorado: Journal of Curriculum and Teacher Education, July–September 2019 issue.