We invite you to read the interview we have done with Julio Fontán, founder and director of the Colegio de Fontán Capital in Bogotá, creator of Fontán Relational Education (FRE) and president of Learning One to One . He will be our star of the upcoming Day of Educational Innovation to be held on November 11, at 18 hours .
Julio, you are considered a world benchmark in educational innovation. What do you think differentiates your educational model from the traditional model?
In principle, the traditional model was born during the Industrial Revolution and what they did was take the practices of this type of production and gave them to the educational system. An example of this is batch production: everyone enters at the same time, has the same subjects, sees the same subjects, takes the same exams and even rings a bell like in the 18th century to go out to rest. This way of facing education seeks to put students at the service of the State’s power systems. FRE, on the other hand, seeks the opposite, puts the educational system at the service of each student . This paradigm shift transforms the entire educational proposal.
Second, we have a moral principle that guides and gives coherence to the model: respect . If we respect that each person is unique, this means that we recognize and understand that they need different things, different spaces and times, therefore, each student must have a personal plan different from that of their classmates . And if we respect that each one is the author of their life, the only thing we can do for them is help them achieve their goals. We cannot teach them, we must help them learn. We do not see ourselves as the protagonists in the development of students’ autonomy, we support them so that they are the authors of it. Like the previous two characteristics, we must respect many others.
Additionally, with the experience of the last 28 years, we have developed the methodologies for its implementation.
How did the idea of ??creating the Fontán school network come up with this innovative methodology?
16 years ago we decided to implement the project in Colombian public education. We wanted this experience to reach the people who needed it most and the result was a real transformation of quality of life options for those students . Some time later we started in Chile and thus we currently reach eight countries.
The network is not exclusive to schools, it is made up of various public, concerted and private educational institutions that implement this pedagogical model.
What do you think has been the key to the success of your educational model?
FRE manages to respond to the changing world in which we live, developing new skills and habits essential for the success in the lives of today’s students . This is evidenced by the results, both in state tests and in the transformation of the quality of life choices of students.
In addition, we are focused on the goals of pedagogical enrichment of educational communities, with our team we accompany in such a way that the goals of innovation are given gradual, but real. Thus, we have managed to innovate in urban and rural contexts, with various accesses to technology , in 6 countries.
You have led educational transformation and innovation in public and private institutions, what would be the first steps that schools would have to take to transform education?
We understand that each institution is different from the others and also needs a personalized process . It is the institution itself that designs, with our help, its transformation plan. Normally, the first stage is the construction of meaning around change by the entire educational community. Next, we help them to characterize their institution and support the process with training, advice and follow-up.
Innovating is not about implementing tools or projects. To innovate is to create the transformations that each institution considers pertinent from the reality of the needs and goals of the community.
What recommendations would you give to those who want to carry out the transformation of the educational model in their classrooms?
There are two types of innovation, classroom and systemic . The classroom is characterized by having an isolated teacher who transforms his practice. This form of innovation is very valuable for the results in the subject.
The second form of innovation modifies the relationship systems in the institution, for example, that of students with learning, with their educators, with their family and with their peers, between educators and many more. This form of innovation is stable over time, makes profound changes and achieves results in the short, medium and long term.
At FRE we consider that in order to achieve innovation, one must think disruptively, start from the beginning of reality and bet on evolution as a way of guaranteeing an education that responds to the needs of a changing world. Creativity is important, thinking from complexity and the possibility that we can always be better.
We know that in Colombia and the rest of the world there are already many students who follow your method. How do you show that it is an effective system?
Students develop new skills and habits for the development of thinking, knowledge, and behavior, resulting in new possibilities for quality of life. An example of this we have with one of our official institutions. When we started with this public school in Colombia, the expectations of the students about continuing in education were very low, even that thinking about accessing Higher Education for them was not a possibility. Today 96% of the students of this institution are reaching Higher Education , which is triple the national average, in addition, it is the best in the entire region in State tests.
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