CYP Now has teamed up with the Churchill Fellowship to publish a series of articles summarising key findings from studies undertaken worldwide by Churchill Fellows (see below). This is an abridged version of Colombia’s Escuela Nueva (“New School”): Building skills and social competences through an independent and cooperative learning environment by Fiona Ramsay, a charity sector professional who has worked for many charities with an education focus. She undertook her fellowship in September 2018. During the five-week trip, she spent a week with the founders of Escuela Nueva and then visited schools and charities in different parts of Colombia delivering the approach.
WHY ESCUELA NUEVA?
During my time at Pro Bono Economics (a charity that uses economics to demonstrate the impact of the charity sector, including programmes focused on education), I became acquainted with Fundación Escuela Nueva (FEN) through a mutual international funder. I was particularly interested in understanding why the model, which was primarily intended to improve access to a good quality basic education in Colombia, is now considered exemplar in several countries for raising educational standards and contributing towards the development of social competences.
I was put in touch with a London-based NGO with education projects across the UK aimed at supporting disadvantaged communities. In 2017, they began working with FEN to implement three aspects of the Escuela Nueva model (co-operative learning, student participation and community engagement) in two schools initially, with the aim of promoting a more favourable learning environment in schools with diverse student populations.
The schools began implementing these aspects of the model in the third term of the academic year 2017/18. I chose to research Escuela Nueva to better understand if the model could be suitable for the UK and in which contexts.
ABOUT ESCUELA NUEVA
An internationally renowned student-centred pedagogy with origins in Colombia in the mid-1970s, Escuela Nueva is now being used in 19 countries across the world including most recently in four schools within the UK.
Vicky Colbert, its main founder and an education professional in the Colombian government at the time of the model’s founding, was faced with finding a solution to the large number of out-of-school children in the rural areas of Colombia. A significant percentage of the country’s population was not receiving a quality basic education due to access problems, even though there was a constitutional mandate for universal basic education.
Colbert, along with Óscar Mogollón and Beryl Levinger, designed a model that was flexible so that children could pick up where they left off after time away from school and work at their own pace. Education became centred on the learner. As classrooms were often multigrade (different ages and learning groups in one classroom), students were not engaging with the teacher all the time and would therefore be encouraged to work co-operatively or independently. The new model incorporated themes that were culturally relevant to the learner and activities that were based on putting knowledge into practice in daily life.
Escuela Nueva was so successful in improving access to a good-quality basic education for hard-to-reach children that it became a national policy for the rural areas of the country and was adopted in over 20,000 schools across Colombia. However, Colombia’s decentralisation process at the beginning of the 1990s meant many regions did not know how to manage the training of new teachers, resulting in patchy implementation.
In 2016, the Colombian government proposed plans to improve learning outcomes and equity in educational opportunity as two of five educational objectives, making Escuela Nueva highly relevant once more.
KEY FEATURES
In Colombia, Escuela Nueva helps children to get a good-quality basic education by focusing on core curriculum subjects in greater depth. Here is a summary of key features of the approach.
Learning guides
Escuela Nueva learning guides are designed to improve skills such as communication capabilities and reasoning through dialogue-based learning, but also crucial cognitive and learning skills such as the processing, absorption and retention of knowledge.
Students in all grade levels sit at round tables so that interactions are face-to-face and learning guides are always shared between at least two students. In terms of working co-operatively in pairs or groups, at all the schools I visited there was a sense of responsibility instilled in each student to support other team members to complete learning guide activities.
Student government
The student government has been an essential feature of Escuela Nueva since the model’s inception. It is formed by:
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A general students’ assembly that all students are part of,
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A board of directors consisting of a president, vice-president, and a secretary, and other members depending on what is considered necessary, and
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Classroom or work committees.
Classroom committees
Classroom committees are organised in each class and involve all students in the day-to-day management of the classroom. The number and theme of committees are determined according to a school’s needs. Classroom committees support the student government and its democratic structure and give students the opportunity to actively participate in their school and classroom. Between the student government and classroom committees, every student should have a specific role or responsibility, as well as a direct way to participate and transform the school.
Student-centred model
Escuela Nueva can be considered a student-centred model in the following ways:
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Co-operative learning is considered to be student-centred, or perhaps more specifically student-led. Students explore activities in small groups and socially construct their own ideas and opinions rather than relying on those of the teacher.
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The model promotes a new role for the teacher as facilitator or guide, rather than “front-of-the-classroom” instructor. The teacher facilitates the smooth running of the co-operative learning model and acts as a guide for each student by checking in on progress.
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In schools which adopt a more co-operative learning approach, students move through tasks in small groups. Students that are faster will help those struggling to complete each unit so that the group can move onto the following unit together.
EVIDENCE OF IMPACT
FEN currently collects data at baseline and 18 months into programme implementation to assess student self-esteem, co-operation, and civic behaviours. A study conducted by FEN has looked at the data of four schools including one school that I visited (Gimnasio Santander in the regional city of Tunja). It shows positive impacts in student co-operation and civic behaviours, but a slight dip in student self-esteem.
There are a number of studies based on empirical evidence which suggest that the model helps improve learning outcomes, and there is also evidence that the model helps to reduce inequalities. A 2017 study suggests that the “EN effect” is comparable to moving up one socio-economic level (out of four official levels in Colombia), and up to a third of an educational achievement level.
Not only did a student-centred approach close the attainment gap between rural and urban children but rural schools actually began to outperform some schools in towns and cities.
COULD IT WORK IN THE UK?
My overall impression of the learning environment that the model creates for students is that it could be suitable in the following settings:
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Inclusive schools where children with special educational needs (SEN) are included in mainstream schooling. Research suggests that children are more accepting of peers with SEN in co-operative learning settings. Students in the Escuela Nueva model support the learning of their teammates, raising the educational standards of all students.
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Schools in areas that are considered disadvantaged. A model which builds a safe and favourable learning environment is more conducive to the development of social competence and, in the case of Escuela Nueva, has proven to lead to improved academic attainment. In a student-centred model, the teacher should be able to spend more time with students individually, supporting a range of abilities.
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Schools with a high proportion of students who speak English as a second language. Not speaking English at home can put students at an educational disadvantage. In a co-operative learning setting, students are given more opportunities to interact and socialise with their peers, which helps them to improve their English language skills.
While the Escuela Nueva model consists of many characteristics and principles that will be familiar to the British teacher, adopting the model may well provide teachers in the UK with an opportunity to revisit key themes that improve the learning environment.
ABOUT THE CHURCHILL FELLOWSHIP
The Churchill Fellowship is a national network of 3,800 inspiring individuals whose mission is to find the world’s best solutions for the UK’s current challenges.
Up to 150 Churchill Fellows are funded each year to visit the world’s leading practitioners and projects on a topic of their choice – from social policy to healthcare to education and more – and bring back new ideas for their communities and sectors across the UK.
Any UK adult citizen can apply, regardless of qualifications, background or age. Fellows are chosen for their potential as change-makers, not their past track record or status.
Find out about fellows and their ideas at www.wcmt.org.uk.
FURTHER READING
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Colombia’s Escuela Nueva (“New School”): Building skills and social competences through an independent and cooperative learning environment by Fiona Ramsay from www.wcmt.org.uk/users/fionaramsay2018
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More on Escuela Nueva from www.escuelanueva.org
