Radio
June 21, 2024 - 05:00

Elías Tefarikis, and the tour with Chilean teachers to Finland: "What one could realize was the absolute autonomy that boys and girls have"

by EntrepreNerd

One of the missions that the Entrepreneur Foundation has is to carry out social impact initiatives, with the main focus on the methodology of learning through play. Under this premise, Elías Tefarikis spoke with Entreprenerd about the journey he made with teachers from Antofagasta to the Finnish city of Tampere, so that the teachers could immerse themselves in the Nordic country's educational system, which is currently one of the best in the world.

"Today, all the strength of the foundation is closely linked also to its active methodologies and game methodologies. And this has a strong relationship with the Momento Cero company, which at the end of the day has also allowed the development of a series of games that complement these tasks," explained Tefarikis.

How was the start of the bond between Tampere University and the Foundation?

Tefarikis explains that it was the Tampere University of Applied Sciences (Finland) itself that began to deepen the relationship with the Foundation.

"With them, we managed to establish a convention and an agreement to, obviously, bring their knowledge related to the educational world, teacher training, active methodology, etc., to activities that are happening in the country. And there was a series of initial activities, which led several teachers and directors from the public sector in the second region, to tell our team at the foundation, 'hey, we want to go to Finland, we want to fully get to know this, we loved the way they do things, we know why, well, they are education professionals and obviously understand that Finland is always a player, it is the Ferrari of the educational world or whatever brand you prefer, ok? And two quite interesting things happened", she recounts.

Thus, in 2022, the first visit of Chilean professors to the Tampere University of Applied Sciences was carried out, where they were able to visit other universities, vocational centers, among others.

After that, they realized it couldn't just be a spark or just a visit, which led to the birth of Antofa Educa, with the purpose of sharing this knowledge to improve the Chilean educational system.

"In this way, the public-private initiative was implemented, hand in hand with the Regional Government of Antofagasta and the support of SQM. "We have male and female directors and teachers from public schools. Today, we have 20 establishments, which makes up 20% of the public education in the second region benefiting from this program"", Tefarikis contends.

Today, the program is in a two-year pilot phase, which considers working with 20% of public education. That is the first stage. "We know that obviously changes are going to come in a continual process, as we manage to permeate more strongly in quantity and quality the schools, the students, and the activities that are being done," explains the president of the Entrepreneur Foundation.

MORE AUTONOMY: THE PARADIGM OF CURRICULAR TEACHING.

Regarding the recent tour of teachers and directors to Tampere, Tefarikis indicated that it was related to about 20 institutions, which benefited from it. They had a full week of training in terms of pedagogical innovation methodologies and pedagogical practices with the team from the Tampere University of Applied Sciences.

"So they had a very active agenda in terms of training, discussion, a series of things. We also had coaching activities, leadership, all under the aegis of our strategic partners at the University. The second part was 100% field visits. We had the opportunity to see and talk with teachers and school directors of primary and secondary education schools; both in Chile's logic, scientists - humanists and professional technicians, which in the case of Finland are these vocational schools. And that had a lot of richness, the activities that were done, we were guided by the same students of the schools, they made several groups and the same students took us," Tefarikis explains to Entreprenerd.

He added, "One could realize the absolute autonomy that boys and girls have regarding the activities they have in their classes. I noticed that some teachers, in their amazement, would say, hey, there's no noise here, we don't hear any noise in the school. And that was very beautiful because it made you realize that your school works in a certain way and here it worked differently, and the question was, well, why does it work like this?".

The autonomy stood out a lot, it especially stood out in the middle education, where students build their own schedule. They are absolutely autonomous and free to choose which classes to take, which perhaps in Chile's system is more linked to the thinking of the university or the technical training center. And I say to a certain extent because at least in my time, I could choose very few different things that I could take if they were not in the established curriculum.

TECHNOLOGY IN FAVOR OF IMPROVING THE STUDENT'S LIFE.

"Another thing that was also very wonderful, is that we went to some centers, one in particular called TREDU, which is a vocational center, so to speak, like a technical training center or IP for our listeners to get a certain idea. And everything is managed, of course, with a high standard, but there is a non-trivial issue - decisions are made based on data," explains Tefarikis.

The translation would be: He adds that, "Everything is linked to some kind of software that allows for the tracking of learning and performance, not only from the standpoint of assessments, but also the performance and learning path of a student. And the decision makers at this center are looking at why it's failing, why it's not failing, what kind of courses he/she is taking, how we could complement the training he/she is getting, what the private sector is also telling us about how it can be informed, and so on."

So, that was also very enriching, and finally, well there were several visits we made related to STEM subjects, more artistic themes (...) So it has been very transformative and now the work continues, because after a good trip comes returning to reality.

WHAT'S NEXT.

According to Tefarikis, today the plan only covers 20% of the region, which is why they are actively having discussions not only with the regional government, but also with other companies that see this as a valuable area for the country.

"This is a challenge that one cannot face with just a single corporate player, it has to be faced with multiple corporate players, because it also has a regional sense. And in different regions, there can also be other corporations that see value in this," he stated.

In next October, it will be the month when a Finnish delegation will visit the beneficiary schools in Antofagasta.