Havana, Cuba: The teacher in Cuba as a citizen of a socialist society, as an essential protagonist in the formative processes of his students; A teacher who acquires his tools in a pedagogy school – with a long emancipatory tradition – and who subsequently trains generations where the future of the country lives. A discussion on such a matter, strategic for the Revolution, was held between the country’s leadership and members of the teaching staff of the ?Enrique José Varona? University of Pedagogical Sciences, Radio Reloj publishes.
The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, spoke about the importance of preparing well “teachers as citizens, with that concept of citizenship in our conditions”, so that the transmission of knowledge in pursuit of a humanistic training will be successful.
Life is telling us – the Head of State said – that in these times of transformative actions in the neighborhoods, of strengthening concepts such as popular power, democracy or participation, ?we have to teach students to be citizens in a society like ours , so that they can exercise the exercise of democracy, the exercise of participation; and for that we must have the teachers well prepared, so that they can also prepare the students ?.
In a meeting that also counted from the presidency with the deputy prime minister, Jorge Luis Perdomo Di-Lella, the professors of the University of Pedagogical Sciences reflected on a proposal brought up by them on how to improve the training of those who will have, from the classrooms, the responsibility of preparing the citizen of the future Cuba.
It is a proposal, as was said in the conference, which is the result of the sustained exchange in these times with students, teachers, university career coordinators, and other actors, to strengthen professional pedagogical training in the face of multiple social demands, and having lived the challenging experience of COVID-19.
From different angles the theme was developed by Professor Isel Parra Vigo, from the Center for Educational Studies belonging to the University of Pedagogical Sciences, mentioned the value of promoting the category of comprehensive training in our teachers: “The Revolution has always chosen this aspiration,” she emphasized; she and she emphasized that this “integral formation as the direction of human development” must link elements of an affective, intellectual and executive character.
The only way to achieve the development of the intellectual, the affective and the executor in close interrelation – reasoned the teacher – is by making those who are trained as a teacher be in close relationship with the culture, with the wishes and contradictions of their country; and that premise, she said, must be cultivated in the formative processes.
In the University every space educates; The student often learns more from what he sees the teacher do than from what he says; It is very important to develop social pedagogy, so that students understand, for example, the vulnerability of a neighborhood, and that implies making alliances, intersectoral and interdisciplinary work.
Isel Parra spoke about these concepts, ?it cannot happen that the student goes to the educational institution to be demotivated?, but quite the opposite.
On her side, Marlene González Escalona said that “if today we want the teacher to transform the educational reality, we must enrich the psychopedagogical culture to be able to face the problems and challenges that he has in his educational practice.”
That, he pointed out, without losing sight of the fact that ?one cannot speak of an integral general culture without a culture of science?, and that when it comes to solving problems from science, technology and innovation, it is about taking advantage of the students, from a very early age, the natural investigative spirit.
The Minister of Education, Ena Elsa Velázquez Cobiella, recalled that Varona is the leading university for pedagogical careers, with a high tradition in teacher training, which entails challenges such as training those professionals that the country’s capital needs. Regarding the proposal presented at the meeting, the minister valued that it is a perfected conception, whose purpose is “the formation of a more comprehensive teacher, adjusted to the new times.”
“Everything that is done in the field of research, innovation – Ena Elsa Velázquez reflected – must have a concrete result in the school, in the training of that teacher, and in the continuous preparation of that teacher who is in office.”
Other topics alluding to pedagogical training were addressed in the analysis session by President Díaz-Canel Bermúdez; among them, the need – raised by teachers in other meetings – to promote the scientific method for all pedagogical work.
In this regard, the dignitary recalled useful tools such as the categories of Marxist thought, ?the scientific method that Marx used, which is to make abstractions, remove the fundamental elements, find the casual, then integrate, work on the causes (?), all that we have to incorporate?.
The importance of studying political economy to understand the processes that occur in society and make the most useful decisions at all times; take advantage of the scenarios offered by teaching to impart knowledge in processes that unify the possibilities of students; train our teachers in approaches such as social pedagogy, popular education and community work, so that the school is the true vortex of the community. The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party also spoke about such concepts.
The use of the new information and communication technologies in the pedagogical training processes motivated other reasoning of the president, who advocated seeking the balance; Because just as distance learning is possible and can give results, human relationships between the teacher and the student, in person, are also essential.
Towards the end of the meeting, the Head of State expressed that in Cubans like Enrique José Varona there is a pedagogical thought that deserves to be studied in depth, since that legacy is the patrimony of the nation.
As a summary of the tone that animated the exchange, the president noticed an idea of ??the patriot and great pedagogue – included in the proposal shared by the members of the Cloister.
Varona wrote: “It is necessary to (who educates) be in communion with the spirit of society, which is basically and above all who educates.”