the educator Dario Alvarez Klar was one of the relevant guests who visited the auditorium of tickmas in the latest edition of the Buenos Aires Book Fair. Alvarez Klar, who for years served as an adviser and consultant to entities and companies linked to the educational area, today directs the Itinerary Network, a space that sees education beyond the classroom. in dialogue with Patrick Zuninithe specialist reflected on the education of today and tomorrow.
Network
“My concept of personal network, in life, is what unites people or elements and at the same time supports the things that happen there,” he explained. klar alvarez, who exemplified: “A network can be a school with twenty children, families, teachers and the environment. That is already a network and what we have done is to make that network grow and reproduce it in new institutions and in new communities”.
Itinere’s growth through the networks means that today it has more than 5,000 students, many jobs, communities: “It is tied to many other public and private entities, companies and organizations. Building a network is uniting around an objective. In the case of education: educational networks are made around a better education, they are expected to be transformative”.
hold on time
“Four presidents pass by and perhaps the boy or girl is in the same school. Therefore, there is something of the coherence of the educational philosophy, of the project that has to be updated and continued because a family chooses it for many years”, highlighted Alvarez Klar regarding the challenge that they are working on in their organization.
The specialist stated that although “The school cannot be à la carte, but it must be flexible. I think that when you base yourself on universal principles and values such as respect, a sense of justice, the acceptance of diversity and celebrating that diversity, the constant improvement attitude of children, but also of adults. The attitude of continuing to learn, professional development keeps you updated as a community”.
“Which I hateand especially in educational organizations, it is the ‘here it was always done like this and it will always be done like this’. Well, it is a great contradiction that speaks of the stillness of cemeteries. That change and innovation must always be present, without being a neurotic act”, reflected Alvarez Klar.
An education based on experiences
Following the spirit of the network, the director of Itinere maintains that it is not only necessary to train but also to maintain a dialogue with specialists, with companies, and “be aware of what boys, girls, and young people are doing outside of school.”
In this same tune of the crossing of specialties, Alvarez Klar recalled his time at the label edelvives, after passing through management of schools. “I say that all life or professional experiences enrich you or tell you what not to do,” she said. And he reflected: “I think the editorial concept gives you great wealth is power think about tools, books, content, didactic experiences for a person you don’t know. You are going to make a book, a platform for someone you don’t know who he is, or how he’s going to use it. And it will be mediated by a teacher I don’t know either. This idea – in quotes – of depersonalization helps you to objectify learning processes so that you can later personalize them at school”.
curiosity does not kill
Curiosity is one of the key tools that Itinere uses to think about the schools they want for their students. “The great seasoning is to arouse curiosity. If I am curious I learn, I ask myself, it makes me want to know. Curiosity is something that the school must arouse “, she highlighted, and stated that it is about”not be afraid of mistakesof working with others without competing, except for the development of competencies that make me rich with the other”.
“Students who are flexible in thought. Sensitive in the social and in the human. Empathetic, committed and who have, in addition to curiosity: dreams. I keep saying that for me working in education is to continue dreaming that reality can be changed”, stated the guest.
The accompanying family
Another of the key figures for the Itinere network is the student’s family: “Family is what each one defines as family. It is an eclectic, changing concept; old books drew a dad, a mom, male and female, dog, house and smoke. That was family.”
And he added: “Today family is what each one considers to be family, who raises, who cares. I wait for a family that adheres to the values that we announcethat you have the desire to accompany your child’s process and at the same time understand that in the schools of the network differences can be resolved by raising everything in a respectful manner, at an appropriate time and be willing to receive the response It may not be what you expect.”
student teachers
“Within the network we say that professional development is essential; It has to be part of the impulse that a teacher has per se, that he is interested in continuing to study, that the schools accompany him, encourage him, that they invest in it, but at the same time knowing that we are in a context- happens in Argentina and passes in Uruguay– that a teacher could graduate and never study again, but work all his life”, reflected Alvarez Klar with the need to think about student teachers; that is, teachers who learn and not just teach.
“Professionalization does not bring all the answers. It is to continue looking for them, it is to continue studying ”, she assured and stated that it is necessary to interact with other specialists to generate reflective debates.
Technology in the classrooms
The advancement of technology in the classroom is a fact, and for Alvarez Klar what it is about is “building digital citizenship”. And he stressed that the use of mobile phones “cannot be a fight between the pedagogical authority and the student. It has to be, like ChatGPT. Are there risks? Yes, but there are also possibilities”.
“What they have to change are the criteria of adults. I can no longer correct a job that a chat can do. If I want to think if it’s good or bad, it’s going to be good because it’s going to be done by artificial intelligence. Now, does the student know what it is about? Can he account for that? could you rephrase it? Technology is a great ally, it is not the solution. Today to think that education and technology have to be divorced is a whim,” said the specialist, who stressed that various studies also show that the impact of the use of technology has more to do with emotions than with learning.
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