The INCE project in Guatemala has been working on several aspects over the last months. We already wrote about how we are making adjustments towards a virtual education setting. But there’s more news: there appear to be some signs that we will be allowed to pilot our manual with a large group of teachers in the coming school year, which will be an enormous opportunity in reaching systemic change in Guatemala.
Translating into a virtual setting
The COVID-19 situation in Guatemala required the INCE office to think more pro-actively about how we could translate the manual that we developed together into a virtual and online setting. This means adapting the material in such a way that teachers would still be able to receive training in an online environment, while also making sure that the interactive methodology which was designed between teachers could also still be adapted to a virtual setting. A big challenge!
Big step towards systemic change
During these months the manual for year 1 was also presented to the Ministry of Education. We are eager to hear whether we will be able to work within the public system in 2021. There appear to be some signs that we will be allowed to pilot the manual with a large group of teachers in the coming school year, which will be an enormous opportunity in reaching systemic change in Guatemala.
Due to the fact that the government also has virtual platforms they use to provide training, we have been ensuring that our materials can be adapted to these platforms for use online. The consortium developed a proposal for a foundation in the USA to provide resources towards the digitization of our materials in a COVID-19 context. Unfortunately our proposal was not selected for the next round amidst the 500+ proposals. But we will continue to look for opportunities and resources and partners who want to join alongside us to bring a change in Education.
Dreams and plans
Over the coming weeks and months we hope to gain clarity about serving in the public system and we will continue to develop our manuals for year 2-4 as well as underlying elements such as the M&E system and advisory services. In addition, we also hope to develop a fully Biblically integrated manual for the private schools in Guatemala.
As you can see: many dreams and plans for the coming months!