Creative Resistance in Schools during the Pandemic: A View from the Peruvian Andes

Our Latin American Studies program is pleased to invite you to a public lecture by professor Cristóbal Suárez Guerrero, visiting from the University of Valencia.

Please note: the lecture will be held in Spanish. Interpretation to English available to those who join the event in person.

About the Presentation:
What do teachers do when reality is more powerful than theory in the classroom? When schools closed due to the pandemic in places like the Peruvian Andes, a series of old and new problems were revealed. The closure lasted almost two academic years - which devastated formal education in Peru. As it was to be expected, the emergency online school program planned by the Peruvian State, designed by trial and error, did not reach all students and could not address all circumstances. It was necessary to work from pedagogical creativity, teacher resilience, and social commitment to continue educating despite the pandemic. This talk presents educational innovation projects shared by teachers from the Apurimac Region of Peru that respond to the question above.

In general, these are creative and committed responses to the complex, problematic, and diverse realities of the classroom. They are approaches that, rather than applying a rule or an algorithm, have faced the complexity of their classrooms from their pedagogical praxis to offer an innovative response full of valor and courage. They are pedagogically- and socially-committed innovative projects that go beyond occupational challenges and that correspond with the fourth Sustainable Development Goal, which aims to: "Ensure inclusive, equitable, quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all".

Some questions that this presentation seeks to answer are: how to continue educating when the socioeconomic situation becomes more acute in the pandemic, how do teachers respond to this double disadvantage in order to continue educating, how to continue educating when poverty is endemic and a new pandemic hits a society lacking resources, and what can we learn from the teachers of Apurimac who are committed to continue educating despite the old and new disadvantages?

About the Presenter:

Cristóbal Suárez-Guerrero (Mollebamba, Apurimac, Peru) is professor of Education and School Management at the University of Valencia and a member of the research group on cultural pedagogies (CREARI) at the same university. He holds a PhD in Education in digital pedagogy from the University of Salamanca (Spain) and a degree in Education, specializing in Philosophy and Social Sciences from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (Peru). His research focuses on digital pedagogy, pedagogical innovation and cooperative learning, digital competence and culture in education, and digital humanities.

References:

Suárez-Guerrero, C., Sanz-Cervera, P. y Tijeras-Iborra, A. (Coords.) (2022). Transformación educativa en el ande peruano. Doce respuestas desde Apurímac. Editorial Aula Magna, McGraw-Hill. 217 pages.

Suárez-Guerrero, C., Sanz-Cervera, P. y Tijeras-Iborra, A. (Coords.) (2021). Educar en Apurímac Resistencia creadora en tiempos de pandemia. Editorial Aula Magna, McGraw-Hill. 186 pages.

To register to attend in person, please do so through the Eventbrite page for the event.

To register to attend remotely, please do so through the Zoom page for the event. Please note that the Zoom session will be conducted in Spanish.