ALTERNATIVE TIMES IN EDUCATION
Declaration of the Alternative Education Networks of Argentina
In this new situation that we are going through worldwide and that especially concerns education, from our schools and unconventional learning experiences we are in a position to make a great contribution, since decades ago we have been renewing the practices of teaching and learning in tune with the needs imposed by each new context. In this sense, we express our will to contribute to the search for solutions that the present and the future demand. Therefore, we request to be included in the instances of consultation of educational public policies in Argentina from now on, as one more sector that can contribute from their experience.
In general, we can see that our spaces, where closeness and physical contact are highly relevant, have been able to adapt to this remote modality with ease, and we understand that this is because there are deep ties that persist despite the physical distance and that have facilitated communication. Something that we were able to make clear is that the relevant learning is what allows us to acquire the skills and tools to understand and know how to perform in the world, in the place and time that we have to live. So, life in quarantine was no longer something to reject but something that could and should mean deep learning.
Returning to face-to-face school may be an excellent opportunity not to return “to the same”, and that many of the practices and tools acquired at this stage can enrich future activities in all schools. We are facing a magnificent opportunity to take advantage of this forced break to unlearn and look at education and learning, the way to re-evaluate and recognize knowledge in such a way that education is not simply a tool for control and duplication but instead allows for greater freedom and can be transformative on a personal and social level.
The unconventional educational spaces, arising from the bosom of civil society organized collectively in various ways, we want to contribute to that educational transformation that is urgently needed, contributing our experiences, which have been operating as true “laboratories of the possible” in every corner from the country.
We value the presence of the State guaranteeing rights and addressing the profound inequalities in our society and, at the same time, we see that it is necessary to provide the facilities to operate without hindrance of our social organizations that have a connection, a privileged knowledge due to proximity and a valuable diversity that they can contribute within an educational system that brings us all together. In this sense, we request that Social Management Education be implemented, as established by Law 26206/06, sections 13, 14 and 140 to provide a proper framework of legality and financing for these experiences, so that their gratuitousness is made possible.
Argentina, July 2020
This Declaration is signed by the following Regional Alternative Education Networks gathered in the Network of Networks of Argentina: Entre Ríos; Santa Fe; Buenos Aires; Córdoba; Northwest; Northeast and South.
To support this statement, please sign with your name or your organization´s name and country here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeNCQ_fBU_XWiQPkvcyjmL5ewWVsIQleafGXqU2XOMxzWCL5w/viewform
