News
January 27, 2010 - XI Meeting of Authorities and Executive Committee of the Inter-American Committee on Education
The XI Meeting of Authorities and Executive Committee of the CIE will be held on February 22 and 23, 2010 in Washington D.C. During this meeting the authorities and the Committee will discuss the outcomes from the VI Inter-American Meeting of Ministries of Education which was held in Quito, Ecuador in August 2009, the work plan of the CIE 2010 – 2011 among other important issues concerning education in the Americas.
For further information on the Inter-American Committee on Education and its work please click in here
January 25, 2010 - First International Symposium: Initial and Basic Education for Children from Rural and Indigenous Populations- Puebla, Mexico January 2010.
During the next week, from January 27th until 29th of 2010, the First International Symposium: Initial and Basic Education for Children from Rural and Indigenous Populations will be held in Puebla, Mexico. The event will be organized by the Government and Secretary of Public Education of Puebla, the Office of Education and Culture of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Foundation for the Comprehensive Development of Indigenous People and Rural Communities, AC.
The event will count with the distinguished presence of Government authorities, early childhood specialists from different countries of Latin America, over 1,000 indigenous leaders, international organizations’ representatives, multilateral agencies, and other professionals interested in the area.
Among the topics to be discussed are: education and multiculturalism, teacher training in a knowledge-oriented society, educational challenges and trends in the comprehensive care of children, indigenous vision on the type of education they need for their optical development, the progress and achievements of the OAS/Van Leer project: “Trends in transition policies for indigenous, rural and border communities ”.
For further information about the symposium click in Agenda, and related to the OAS/Van Leer Project clic here.
August 19, 2009 - OAS Course on Teaching Democratic Citizenship Ramps Up
Over 200 educators will participate in the second cohort of the distance course for Caribbean educators titled ‘Education for Democratic Citizenship in the Caribbean’ (EDCC) commencing in September 2009. Fifty educators from five (5) countries recently participated in the first phase of the first cohort of the course. The course is designed to ensure that the classroom can become an early incubator for the cultivation of democratic cultural practices in and among emerging generations of Caribbean citizens. The distance course consists of two thirteen-week phases. The first is an on-line course which will provide educators with the tools – knowledge and skills – needed to complete the second phase, a follow-on practicum in their classrooms.
The course, which is being offered through UWI Open Campus, is part of a 3-year pilot project funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and administered by the Department of Education and Culture of the Organization of American States (OAS). The five countries that participated in the first cohort of the course include Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago. Dominica is expected to join these five countries in the second cohort of the course.
The educators of the first cohort who successfully completed the first phase will be guided by mentors through a 13-week practicum comprising the second phase of the first pilot of the course. The OAS is working with stakeholders across the Caribbean, including Ministries of Education of participating territories, to promote the sustainability of these efforts after the pilot project ends in early-2010. More information on the course can be found at the following website:
www.oas.org/en/sedi/dec/educadem/edcc
July 16, 2009 - Award of Certificates for the Online Course
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| Guyana |
The first phase of the virtual course “Teacher Education for the 21st Century” has come to an end. The virtual course is being implemented in the framework of the broader project presented by the Ministry of Education of Trinidad and Tobago called, “Teacher Educators for the XXI Century: Revisioning teacher education in the Americas,”.
Financed in part by the Inter-American Committee on Education, the courses focus on the integration of new technologies and Web 2.0 tools, in promoting student centered learning and collaborative projects.
Teacher Educators from Guyana, Jamaica, San Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and Surinamereceived the official certificate of the course coordinated by the Department of Education and Culture (DEC) in collaboration with theInternational Education and Resource Network (iEARN).
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| Suriname |
Guyana and Suriname held an official event to award certificates to their teacher educators. During the event the authorities of the Ministry of Education acknowledged the excellent work of all of the participants. In Suriname the culmination of the course was published in a recognized newspaper.
July 16, 2009 - XVI International Annual Conference for Teachers
The International Education and Resource Network, iEARN, partner of the Department of Education and Culture of the Organization of American States in the first round of the teacher education online courses, has extended an official invitation to the teacher educators who successfully completed the course to attend the XVI International
Annual Conference for Teachers in Ifrane, Morocco.
The conference in Morocco will be held between the 19th and 25th July 2009. One educator from Trinidad and Tobago, one from Guyana and two educators from Suriname will be representing their countries and the OAS at the conference.
Finally, a workshop to present the preliminary results of the above mentioned course and evaluation results will be organized at the conference. For more details on the event please see
http://www.iearn2009.ma/
July 15, 2009 - Preparatory Meeting for the VI Ministerial of Education in Ecuador
The Preparatory Meeting for the VI Inter-American Meeting of Ministers of Education was held on July 9
th and 10
th at the Organization of American States OAS, in Washington DC. The event was attended by representatives of the Ministries of Education and by the representatives of the permanent missions to the OAS.
The objective of this meeting was to discuss important documents of the meeting such as the preliminary draft agenda and the draft declaration. In addition, delegations discussed the planning of related events to be held around the Ministerial, such as the youth consultation.
The VI Ministerial Meeting will take place on August 12th and 14th in Quito, Ecuador. Further information about the meeting is available at the department webpage.
June 17, 2009 - Resolution 2468: 2011 Inter-American Year of Culture is approved at the General Assembly
The XXXIX General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), which took place in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, June 2-3, 2009, declared 2011 the “Inter-American Year of Culture”, recognizing the important social and economic value of culture.
The Inter-American Year of Culture is meant to promote respect for the great diversity of cultures in the OAS member states, to foster intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding, and to reinforce the important role culture can play in social and economic development. Among the activities to be developed in the framework of the Inter-American Year, the government of Chile will sponsor the Gabriela Mistral Inter – American Poetry Competition aiming to engage the participation of the youth in the arts and culture.
This resolution was presented by the Government of Chile as a follow up on the recommendation of the Ministers of Culture during the IV Ministerial Meeting of Culture that took place on November 20th and 21st, 2008 in Bridgetown, Barbados.
May 18, 2009 - Migrant Education Project develops a mapping of Policies and Actions targeting these populations
The project “Education for migrant children and youth” –executed by Department of Education and Culture of the Organization of American States (OAS) - is developing a mapping of the public policies and actions targeting migrant populations. The main goal is to document, systematize, and disseminate the lessons learned from promising policies, programs and practices aimed at providing quality educational experiences for migrant children and youth.
This project seeks the participation and involvement of ministries of education as well as key actors from civil society. Issues such as foreign language teaching, cultural integration, diversity, distance education, respect and equality are some of the main themes we find both in countries receiving migrants and in countries of origin.
How can you participate? By simply answering the following survey:
April 8, 2009 - Horizontal Cooperation Fund for Technical Assistance Missions on Education for Democracy and Related Areas
The Department of Education and Culture (DEC) of the Organization of American States (OAS) has launched a Cooperation Fund for Technical Assistance Missions between OAS Member States in education for democratic citizenship and related fields (such as peace education, democracy education, diversity education, human rights education, among others). The purpose of the Fund is to strengthen member states’ ability to design and implement effective policies and programs that encourage the development of a culture of democracy through education. The Fund, which will be allocated through a competitive process, will finance travel for technical assistance missions to enable a country with specific expertise in a particular topic to travel to or be visited by another country or countries which could benefit from that technical expertise.
The fund promotes bilateral and multilateral cooperation among governmental institutions of the OAS member states, for example, among Ministries of Education, and also among governmental institutions from one country and other types of institutions from another country (for example, non-governmental organizations, universities and private institutions). The need and characteristics of the cooperation must be identified and negotiated directly between the parties, who must sign a written agreement of commitment before submitting the proposal for consideration. The parties must also submit a request form, which includes a justification of need, a draft agenda for the mission, and a preliminary budget, among other documents.
The deadline to receive requests from interested parties is May 15, 2009, by emailing the required documentation to Adriana Cepeda and Jorge Baxter at
acepeda@oas.org/ jbaxter@oas.org Successful applicants will be selected by June 5. The missions are expected to be carried out between July and October, 2009.
This fund is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Permanent Mission of the United States to the OAS. The fund is based on a similar successful model developed by the Cooperation Fund of the Inter-American Network for Labor Administration whichis coordinated by the OAS Department of Social Development and Employment .
Please direct any questions to the Fund Coordinator:
Adriana Cepeda
The Inter-American Program on Education for Democratic Values and Practices is an alliance officially adopted by the ministers of education of OAS member states through CIDI/RME/RES. 12 (IV-O/05) at the IV Meeting of the Ministers of Education held in Scarborough, Trinidad and Tobago on August 11th and 12th, 2005. The objective of the Program is to promote a democratic and peaceful culture through education.
See more at: http://www.educadem.oas.org
See the call for proposals here.
March 11, 2009 - OAS Course on Teaching Democratic Citizenship Kicks Off
The early 21st Century finds the English-Speaking Caribbean at a crossroads in the development of its democracy. On one hand, the Caribbean boasts of a healthy tradition of adherence to the institutions, norms, and practices of liberal democracy. On the other hand, there is a realisation that democracy is a lived reality, and its successes are not only guaranteed by the presence of institutions and law, but by individual attitudes and behaviour and by cultural practices which shape human interrelationships.
It is in this context that fifty educators from five (5) countries commenced a distance course for Caribbean educators titled ‘Education for Democratic Citizenship in the Caribbean’ (EDCC) on March 9, 2009. The course is designed to ensure that the classroom can become an early incubator for the cultivation of democratic cultural practices in and among the emerging generations of Caribbean citizens.
The distance course consists of two three month phases. The first is an on line course which will provide educators with the tools – knowledge and skills – needed to complete a follow-on practicum in their classrooms.
The course, which is being offered through UWI Open Campus, is part of a 3-year pilot project funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and administered by the Organization of American States (OAS). The five countries participating in the pilot project include Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago. Over 200 additional educators throughout the Caribbean will participate in the second cohort scheduled to commence in September 2009.
Throughout the three months of the course, educators will be exposed to themes such as Democratic Foundations, Caribbean Citizenship Development, Teacher and Student Behavior in the Classroom, Pedagogical Methods and Professional Reflection and Assessment.
February 6 , 2009 - The First Online Pilot Course for Teacher Educators entitled “A focus on technology and collaboration to improve the quality of education in the Caribbean" starts on Monday February 9th, 2009.
For those who are interested in being observers , please click here to fill out a form requesting an access code.
December 15 , 2008 - Caribbean Workshop on Data Analysis and Reporting: International Indicators for National Reports
A workshop on Education Indicators took place in Nassau, Bahamas on December 9th and 10th and was attended by 13 OAS Caribbean Countries. The project framework was “Strengthening Capacity Building for Education Statistics in Central America and the Caribbean” – sponsored by FEMCIDI, Special Multilateral Fund of the Inter-American Council for Integral Development.
The main goal of the workshop was to improve national statistic systems in the analysis of Educational Indicators. During the event the countries representatives discussed about developing national reports based on the indicators developed by UNESCO and PRIE (Regional Project of Educational Indicators), which are used to monitor the Education Goals of the Summit of the.
September 23 , 2008 - Workshop on Education Indicators in El Salvador
On September 23 and 24 in San Salvador, El Salvador will be conducted a workshop about Central American Education Indicators for Monitoring the Goals of the Summit of the Americas: Method of Construction and Use. The Secretary of Public Education in Mexico is responsible for the event which is the executing institution of the project.
The objective of the workshop is to improve the production and analysis of education statistics internationally comparable and also seeks to strengthen capabilities of those responsible for the statistics in member countries.
The activity is a complement to the actions of the Regional Project Indicators – PRIE.
This report is meant to serve as a contribution by the Regional Education Indicators Project of the Summit of the Americas (PRIE), to the work of the Meeting of Ministers of Education within the framework of the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI) of the Organization of American States (OAS). This document provides quantitative data on the state of education in the 34 Member States of the OAS, and seeks to describe the achievements and the challenges related to three goals established by Heads of State and Government of the OAS Member States at the Second Summit of the Americas (Chile, 1988) to be met by 2010:
1. to ensure universal access and completion of quality primary education for 100 percent of children
2. access to at least 75 percent of the youth to quality secondary education, with increasing percentages of them completing secondary education.
3. the responsibility for providing life-long learning opportunity for the general population.
The report is divided into eight chapters: introduction, reader's guide, executive summary, achievements and challenges, early childhood education, conclusions, references and appendices.