Initial Teacher Training and Public Policies of Digital Inclusion in Latin America: What the Pandemic Has Highlighted

• Autor: María Julia Morales González/Ana Laura Rivoir/Silvana Flecchia
• Cargo: Universidad de la República. Uruguay
• Páginas: 61-81

61

María Julia Morales González | Ana Laura Rivoir | Silvana Flecchia

Initial Teacher Training and Public Policies of Digital Inclusion in Latin America | 61-81 pp.

Iniial Teacher Training and Public Policies

of Digital Inclusion in Lain America: What

the Pandemic Has Highlighted

Formación Inicial Docente y Políicas Públicas de Inclusión Digital

en América Laina: Lo que la pandemia ha puesto en evidencia

María Julia Morales González..

mariajulia.morales@cienciassociales.edu.uy

Ana Laura Rivoir. ana.rivoir@cienciassociales.edu.uy

Silvana Flecchia. slecchia@gmail.com

Universidad de la República. Uruguay

Recibido: 16/01/2023

Aprobado: 17/02/2023

Abstract

This aricle analyses the inclusion of Informaion and Communicaion

Technologies (ICT) in the teaching and learning processes in Lain America

(LA) through its public policies, from the perspecive of Iniial Teacher Training

(ITT). An attempt is made to understand the scope and limitaions that have

become evident during the pandemic of emergency remote teaching (ERE). In

order to achieve this objecive, a documentary review of the last fiteen years

in the Redalyc database was carried out, in relaion to ITT and public policies

for the inclusion of ICT in educaion in LA. In addiion, the SISTEAL-IIEP-

UNESCO 2020 monitoring of government strategies developed in the region

during the pandemic was accessed, and the web portals of some ministries

of countries in the region were consulted. However, it must be clarified that

this is not a comprehensive review, but is nonetheless saturated with regard

to the informaion found. In this sense, ERE showed that the public policies

of ICT inclusion implemented in LA were not prepared for ERE.

Keywords: ICT; public policies; teacher digital competence; ICT standards

for teachers

62 Controversias y Concurrencias Latinoamericanas

Vol 14; N° 25 | Año 2023.

Resumen

Este artículo analiza la inclusión de las Tecnologías de la Información y la

Comunicación (TIC) en los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje en América

Laina (AL) a través de sus políicas públicas, desde la perspeciva de la Formación

Inicial Docente (FID). Intenta comprender los alcances y limitaciones que se han

hecho evidentes durante la pandemia en la enseñanza remota de emergencia

(ERE). Para lograrlo, se realizó una revisión documental de los úlimos quince

años en la base de datos Redalyc, en relación con la FID y las políicas públicas

para la inclusión de las TIC en la educación en AL; se accedió al monitoreo

SISTEAL-IIEP-UNESCO 2020 de las estrategias gubernamentales desarrolladas

durante la pandemia y se consultaron los portales web de algunos ministerios

de países de la región. Sin embargo, debe aclararse que no se trata de una

revisión exhausiva, pero sí saturada en cuanto a la información encontrada.

En este senido, la ERE mostró que las políicas públicas de inclusión de TIC

implementadas en AL no fueron suficientes para preparar a los países ante

los desafíos de la ERE.

Keywords: TIC; políicas públicas; competencia digital docente; estandar

TIC para docentes

Introducion

During the pandemic, the educaion system and society as a whole were forced

to suspend face-to-face classes. Teachers have implemented various acions

and strategies to support the school year and maintain the pedagogical link

with their students. Primary school and secondary school teachers were put

to the test when required to coninue teaching, in social distancing condiions,

redesigning the classroom and using muliple strategies, in an attempt to

miigate the access gap and connecivity issues in the homes of children and

teenagers (UNICEF, 2020).

An analysis of the acions implemented by the teachers has put their

iniial teacher training in the eye of the storm. The educaional policies of

the diferent countries in LA regarding iniial teacher training have resulted

in a variety of programmes with diferent formats and at diferent levels.

It has become apparent that teacher training in the countries of the region

is a heterogeneous landscape. This has led to a variety of professional profiles

in the diferent Lain American countries, a variety that has been enhanced

by public policies for the inclusion of technologies in educaion, which have

not always considered iniial teacher training in their design.

In the context of this pandemic, the teaching and learning face-to-face

models were transferred to the virtual seting without any pedagogical

mediaion, promoing synchronous encounters (telepresence) as a subsitute

for face-to-face classes, and thus developing an emergency distance educaion

(EDE) mode. This EDE is a hybrid derived from distance educaion. It became

a necessity due to the social distance required because of SARS COVID-19 and

the health emergency that came with it, which demanded the reformulaion

of classroom teaching pracices.