Colombia
Sources: OECD (2020[1]), TALIS 2018 Results (Volume II): Teachers and School Leaders as Valued Professionals, TALIS, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/19cf08df-en; OECD (2020[2]), "Learning remotely when schools close: How well are students and schools prepared? Insights from PISA", OECD Policy Responses to Coronavirus (COVID-19), OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/3bfda1f7-en; OECD (2019[3]), TALIS 2018 Results (Volume I): Teachers and School Leaders as Lifelong Learners, TALIS, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/1d0bc92a-en; OECD (2019[4]), PISA 2018 Results (Volume II): Where All Students Can Succeed, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/b5fd1b8f-en; OECD (2019[5]), PISA 2018 Results (Volume III): What School Life Means for Students’ Lives, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/acd78851-en.
Selected education policies for Colombia
From Zero to Forever (De Cero a Siempre, 2011)
►. Level of resilience: Learner
Colombia’s Early Childhood Comprehensive Care Strategy (De Cero a Siempre, 2011) promotes quality and coverage of education and care for children from birth until five years of age. One of its initial aims was to ensure enrolment of 2 million 3-5 year-olds by 2018, and participation of all children in extreme poverty in early childcare programmes. The strategy promotes a holistic approach, with a strong emphasis on parental engagement and co-ordination of different services. A comprehensive ECEC framework defined the types of ECEC based on three modalities: family, community, and institutional. The family modality focused on support at home, targeting pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, or children in rural areas.
The strategy significantly increased enrolment in ECEC and the co-ordinated approach paved the way for Colombia’s education continuity strategy in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. By 2019, some 1.4 million children under age five were enrolled in comprehensive ECEC, an increase from 566 400 children in 2010. The current target is to reach 2 million enrolments by 2022 (Government of Colombia, 2019[6]). Furthermore, after the closure of Early Childhood Development services in March 2020, the Colombian Institute of Family welfare (Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar, ICBF) launched My hands teach you (Mis manos te enseñan) to support continuous learning in the home, to ensure adequate nutrition for 0-5 year-olds, and to provide more comprehensive support to the most vulnerable families (e.g. distribution of food rations, pedagogical guides with activities and child-rearing practices, and materials to carry out the activities at home). This strategy made use of an interdisciplinary team of trained professionals including some 88 500 education agents, 47 200 community caregivers, and 6 000 psychological support specialists (Arbeláez et al., 2020[7]).
Further reading: OECD (2016[8]), Education in Colombia, Reviews of National Policies for Education, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264250604-en.
The Family-School Alliance (Alianza Familia-Escuela, 2020)
►. Level of resilience: Broader learning environment
Colombia launched the Family School-Alliance Strategy in July 2020, when many schools and ECEC centres had switched to home learning. The strategy aims to support the learning, well-being, and development of children, adolescents, and young people by strengthening co-operation between educational institutions and families, with a focus on improving access to education and reducing drop-out. A set of guidelines underpin the institutional framework for family-school collaboration and support educational institutions in developing an action plan to strengthen their work with families. They include concrete examples of successful family engagement practices and tools to enable schools to evaluate the home environment and to support successful home learning. Colombia also organised online conferences for teaching professionals and families, and broadcast content on care, parenting, and learning via Profe en tu Casa, an educational broadcasting network established in the early stages of the pandemic.
Further reading: Ministry of National Education of Colombia (n.d.[9]), Orientaciones técnicas: Alianza Familia - Escuela por el desarrollo integral de niñas, niños y adolescentes [Technical guidelines: Family - School Alliance - for the integral development of children and adolescents], website of Aprender Digital [Digital Learning],http://aprende.colombiaaprende.edu.co/ckfinder/user
https://siteal.iiep.unesco.org/sites/default/files/sit_accion_files/11052.pdf (accessed 1 April 2021).
References
Arbeláez, L. et al. (2020), Colombia: Mis Manos te Enseñan (My Hands Teach You), OECD Publishing, https://oecdedutoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Colombia-Mis-manos-te-ensenan.pdf. [7]
Government of Colombia (2019), De Cero a Siempre [From Zero to Forever], http://www.deceroasiempre.gov.co/QuienesSomos/Paginas/QuienesSomos.aspx (accessed on 1 April 2021). [6]
Ministry of National Education of Colombia (n.d.), Orientaciones técnicas: Alianza Familia - Escuela por el desarrollo integral de niñas, niños y adolescentes [Technical guidelines: Family - School Alliance - for the integral development of children and adolescents], http://aprende.colombiaaprende.edu.co/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Orientaciones%20T%C3%A9cnicas%20Alianza%20Familia-%20Escuela%20por%20el%20desarrollo%20integral%20de%20ni%C3%B1as%2C%20ni%C3%B1os%20y%20adolescencia.pdf (accessed on 1 April 2021). [9]
OECD (2020), Learning remotely when schools close: How well are students and schools prepared? Insights from PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/3bfda1f7-en. [2]
OECD (2020), TALIS 2018 Results (Volume II): Teachers and School Leaders as Valued Professionals, TALIS, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/19cf08df-en. [1]
OECD (2019), PISA 2018 Results (Volume II): Where All Students Can Succeed, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/b5fd1b8f-en. [4]
OECD (2019), PISA 2018 Results (Volume III): What School Life Means for Students’ Lives, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/acd78851-en. [5]
OECD (2019), TALIS 2018 Results (Volume I): Teachers and School Leaders as Lifelong Learners, TALIS, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/1d0bc92a-en. [3]
OECD (2016), Education in Colombia, Reviews of National Policies for Education, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264250604-en. [8]