Costa Rica

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Diversity and Equity in Costa Rica

Educational History

When the economy of Costa Rica took a plunge in the 1980s, educational services and resources suffered throughout the country, including grants, school meals and educational facilities (National Inform).

Costa Rica’s most prominent problems included a high rate of repetition in the first year of primary school, a high dropout rate in secondary school, a lack of teacher training (19 percent of teachers have no degree), and a general lack of funding for teachers (41 percent of the country’s primary schools have just one teacher for all grade levels) (Munoz).

Realizing the educational decline, the government has recently spearheaded major reforms intended to close the educational gap between public and private education and between regions, both rural and urban.

Some of the main advances include “new provision to improve the quality of state education; the implementation of a Strategic Plan (1998-2002) to improve quality, coverage and continuance in the education system and an amendment to Article 78 of the Political Constitution assigning 6% of the gross domestic product to education, including higher education” (Munoz).

These new goals reflect Costa Rican ideal of being a democratic, peaceful, and fair nation. Furthermore, the National Plan of Development has a general objective “to improve the conditions of life of the Costa Rican, by means of the attainment of the best conditions of justness, solidarity and social integration…” (Ministerio de Educación Pública)

 Justness in the Curricular Development

At curriculum level, a series of programs exist that ensure access to educational services to the whole population, in particular to the most vulnerable populations. These programs include:

1. Program of Special Education

2. Program of Indigenous Education

3. Program of Justness of Gender

4. Social Policy in the Classroom

 

1. Special Education

Costa Rica’s economic problems have slowed efforts to protect the human rights of people with disabilities. According to the Ombudsman’s Office, the population with disabilities is among the most excluded sectors of Costa Rican society. Although laws are in place to protect disabled persons, “broadly speaking, the government does not create the necessary conditions for most persons with disabilities in Costa Rica to fully exercise their citizenship rights” (IDEAnet).

A recent report by the Ministry of Public Education’s Department of Special Education offered an overview of education for persons with disabilities. Students with special educational needs comprise about 10.13% of the total number of students. Thus, out of a student population of 937,154, there are approximately 95,000 students with disabilities. The majority are taught in mainstream classrooms, but some are taught in special classes or special schools.

Even though progress has been made in access to education for youth with disabilities, most schools are not readily accessible. The National Development Plan for 2002-2006 indicates that only 18% of all educational centers are minimally accessible; for example, having ramps both at entrances and inside buildings and accessible toilets. Even more of an issue is the many primary and secondary school teachers who tend to demean and discriminate against students with disabilities. In an attempt to eliminate discriminatory attitudes, the MEP has begun efforts to train teachers on disability issues. The National Resource Center for Educational Inclusion (CNRIE) was established in April 2002 with this aim (IDEAnet).

2. Immigration, Emigration, and Indigenous Education   

Costa Rica’s emigration rate is quite low compared to other Latin American countries; only 3% of the country’s people live in another country as immigrants. The main destination countries are the United States, Spain, Mexico and other Central American countries. In 2005, there were 127,061 Costa Ricans living in another country as immigrants. 

Conversely, Costa Rica’s immigration is among the largest in the Caribbean Basin. Immigrants in Costa Rica represent about 10.2% of the Costa Rican population. The main countries of origin are Nicaragua, Columbia, United States and El Salvador.  In 2005, there were 440,957 people in the country living as immigrants. However, according to native sources, these immigrants tend to separate themselves from the mainstream population of Costa Rica, establishing their own communities in the country.

Take for example, an interview with Elias Maxera, a Costa Rican native and former student in San Jose. Maxera studied at a large, private Methodist high school, which he recalled as having “a guy from the U.S., but he was…just on exchange – and two girls from Peru. It was almost all Costa Rican.” 

Furthermore, Costa Rica is a well known environmental touristic destination. International students come to study in science programs, which are relatively closed to Costa Ricans due to the high cost and ‘foreigner-based’ curriculum.

3. Justness of Gender

In 1984, Costa Rica ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which was the first of several initiatives “aimed at eliminating sexist stereotypes and practices that legitimize gender inequalities in the education system” (Ministerio de Educación Pública). Furthermore, the 1990 Act for promoting the Social Equality of Women made the central government and educational institutions responsible for guaranteeing equal opportunities for men and women, not only in terms of access to education, but also in terms of the quality of education. To ensure that these policies were followed, the Gender Equity Office in the Ministry of Public Education was created in 2000, and a Strategic Plan was defined. As a result, the educational status of women has improved significantly in the past twenty years.

The graph below shows how women are now reaching similar, if not higher levels of education than their male counterparts.

Costa Rica: Breakdown of the population by level of education

according to gender. 2000

costa_rica_educ

                                              Source: National Institute of Statistics and Censuses, 2001.

In 1992, 50.03% of women completed primary education, rising slightly to 50.32% in 1994. By contrast, 49.97% of men completed primary schooling in 1992, falling to 48.68% two years later.

 Further progress has been made since 1996, when policies were created to curtail gender or any other type of discrimination from the education system. These relate to teaching methods and materials, the decision-making structure and administration of the education system, as well as educational access and continuance for women from rural areas and marginalized urban areas, teenage mothers, etc. For added support in their education, women have equal access to a variety of grants and financial aid.

Social Policy:

 Economic class:

According to the Costa Rican Constitution, “Primary education and general basic education are compulsory. Though the system is said to be free, many cannot afford the required uniforms and rural schools have no books for students.” Furthermore, the length of time daily spent in school is 3.5 hours since the school class schedule is divided into two sessions in order to accommodate the students (Private Schools spend from 7 to 9 hours in the school).  

Additionally, the Constitution dictates, “The State shall facilitate the pursuit of higher studies by persons who lack monetary resources. The Ministry of Public Education, through the organization established by law, shall be in charge of awarding scholarships and assistance.” However, according to Maxera, “If you have resources you would send your kids to a private school because it’s much better. They will learn a second language, usually English. But in the public high school with few exceptions they teach you really bad English, so you can’t really talk or write, and other courses are bad because they don’t have enough funding.”

 Rural vs. urban

 Costa Rica’s capital, San Jose, is the hub of educational resources for the country. The central valley, in which 60 percent of Costa Ricans live, houses the four main universities of Costa Rica. According to Elias Maxera, there are campuses in other rural areas but “the quality is not the same. They offer few careers. The main region has the best primary and secondary schools”.

 Indeed an ‘urban privilege’ does exist in Costa Rica with regard to access and quality of education.  Although certain resources, such as telesecondario, exist, much more work is needed to integrate rural areas into the mainstream school system.

 

This blog post was created with information from the following resources:

Costa Rica Constitution, Article 78.

“Demographics of Costa Rica – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.”Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 May 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demograph_of_Costa_Rica

“Education in Costa Rica: An Overview..” ERIC – World’s largest digital library of education literature. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2013. <http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED248570&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED248570>

IDEAnet – Disability Rights Community >> International Disability Rights Monitor (IDRM) Publications >> – IDRM – Costa Rica 2004.” IDEAnet – Home Page . N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2013. <http://www.ideanet.org/content.cfm?id=5358&searchIT=1>.

Maxera, Elias. Personal interview. 12 Feb. 2013.

Ministerio de Educación Pública. (2002). Repetición en el Sistema Educativo Costarricense, 2002.  San José, Costa Rica: División de Planeamiento y Desarrollo Educativo, Departamento de Estadística.

Munoz, Nefer. “UNESCO – Education for All – Knowledge sharing – Grassroots stories – Caribbean.” United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2013. <http://www.unesco.org/education/efa/k

National Inform:The Development of Education, Costa Rica.” Ministerio de Educación Pública: División de Planeamiento y Desarrollo Educativo, Departamento Planes y Programas. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2013. <www.ibe.unesco.org/International/ICE47/English/Natreps/reports/costarica_en.pdf>.

 

 

Contemporary Education

The following information is based on an interview with Sabino Morera,
a Costa Rican native and professor at the Monterey Institute.

 

Question 1: To what extent is education in Costa Rica centralized?

Answer: Education in Costa Rica is slowly moving from centralized to regionalized.

Want to learn more? Watch it in animated video form or read it as a pdf (full version)

 

Question 2: What role does the government play in the design, delivery, monitoring and evaluating of education?

Answer: The government plays a significant role in the educational system, as they control all of the funding. 

Want to learn more? Watch it in animated video form or read it as a pdf (full version)

 

Question 3: Has globalization influenced the educational system in Costa Rica?

Answer: Yes, but not as much as education in other countries, especially developed countries, where there has been a boost in other types of education, such as technical education. (read more

 

Want to learn even more? Check out these sources:

Ministry of Education of Costa Rica: http://www.mep.go.cr/

Omar Dengo Foundation: http://www.fod.ac.cr/

How History, Philosophy, and Culture shape Education

 

When you think of a third world country, what characteristics come to mind? Underdeveloped? Uneducated?

Think again.

Building Estudios Generales inside Universidad de Costa Rica

 

Costa Rica, one of many third-world countries in South America, boasts a literacy rate of 96%, one of the highest of all Latin American countries. And the list of impressive characteristics doesn’t end there. In fact, Costa Rica is beginning to emerge as one of the most innovative country of educators.

 

 

 

 

Dedication to Innovative Education

Jose Maria Castro, first president of Costa Rica

Jose Maria Castro, first president of Costa Rica

Costa Rica’s educational philosophy reflects the nation’s historic dedication to orderly constitutional government, democratic principles, and human rights (source).

Many of Costa Rica’s early leaders, such as the first president, Jose Maria Castro, were former teachers who were concerned about the education in Costa Rica. In 1869, the country became one of the first in the world to make the education both free and obligatory, funded by the state’s share of the great coffee wealth. (Source). Furthermore, When the army was abolished in 1949, it was said that the army would be replaced by an army of teachers.

Costa Rica has continued throughout the twentieth century to make education a priority (source). During this time, topics such as technology, language, and environmental sustainability have been promoted.

 

Tourism Education

Students enjoy time practicing English in the computer lab

President Figueres, elected in 1994, advocated putting a computer in each of Costa Rica’s 4000 schools, plus obligatory English classes (source).These improvements were influenced by the recent rise of the tourist industry, which demands skilled workers who can effectively communicate (both verbally and electronically) with the swarm of English-speaking tourists. In return, these tourists contribute to a large percentage of Costa Rica’s national income, part of which is fed back into the educational system.

 

Along with the tourist boom comes another important topic of specialized education: the environment and sustainability. Costa Rica is building a reputation for itself as being proponents of environmental conservation. They are even building an economy centered on teaching tourists about the Costa Rican environment, and how to sustain it. Take for example the company Costa Rican Adventures, which I experienced  during my honeymoon in Costa Rica. The employees not only acted as tour guides, but were also educated experts on their topic, such as the different animals of the rainforest, the types of plants and various uses of them, or the lifecycle of a volcano.

A Costa Rican tour guide teaches about the tree frog.

Arenal Volcano in La Fortuna, Costa Rica

In response to this emerging industry, many universities in Costa Rica are pioneering education for sustainable development in their programs and curriculum (Garcia 2010).

 

Philosophical Beliefs and Curriculum Design

The Costa Rican education is based on three philosophical beliefs: rationalism, constructivism and humanism. According to UNESCO, a philosophical goal of the educational system as a whole is to facilitate “the formation of civic lovers of their Homeland, aware of their rights and of their fundamental freedoms, with deep sense of responsibility and respect to the human dignity.”

Based on these philosophies, the curriculum is designed like an “investigation process that understands the individual (integral formation), his/her context (integrated formation), and the relationship between both (integrative formation).”(UNESCO) The purpose of this curriculum is to cultivate more skilled students who can understand and utilize their personal learning style, to apply their knowledge to the enhancement of her/his quality of life, while at the same time understanding and respecting their peers. Throughout this process, the functioning of the educational institution and the community will also improve.

Four Pillars of Education

The Costa Rican education takes into account four pillars: to learn how to know, to learn how to make, to learn how to live together, to learn how to be; including in this process the student, collaborators, teachers and facilitators.

This conceptualization integrates the student, the teacher, the director, the family, the community, and the advisor. All of them define the direction of the curriculum that is developed in its interactions.  “It passes from boys and girls who memorize to a boy and a girl that build knowledge when acting physical, mental, social, and emotionally with the environment (UNESCO).”

Watch this video for an example of a typical day in the Costa Rican classroom: Education in Costa Rica

Teaching Methodology

The educational system is administered in accordance with policy determined at the national level by the Higher Council of Education and executed by the Minister of Education (Gill 1980).

Relating back to the aforementioned pillar of “Learning to Do”, successful teachers use “concrete models to illustrate concepts and the more frequent use of hands-on activities such as cutting, coloring and pasting” (Sorto et. al) to enhance their lessons.

In a study by Sorta et. al, one specific aspect of teaching methodology observed was the general pedagogy skills, this includes how well the teacher has all of the students engaged, his/her use of proper classroom management techniques, and the quality of instructional materials. A quality teacher utilizes three areas of knowledge: grade level, pedagogical  and specialized.  “This specialized content knowledge is not necessarily separate knowledge, but it is demonstrated in the class by how well a teacher uses the mathematical and pedagogical knowledge to help students learn” (source).

 Figure 1 shows the percentage of Costa Rican teachers that demonstrated knowledge in each of the kinds of knowledge described above.

Figure 1.  Grade Three and Seven Teacher Observed Knowledge

Comparison of Costa Rica and Panama Educators

Comparison of Costa Rica and Panama Educators

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click here for Powerpoint

Other sources:

Garcia, J.H. (2010, January 1). Assessment of Education for Sustainable Development in Universities in Costa Rica: Implications for Latin America and the Caribbean. ProQuest LLC.

Gill, C.C., & Department of Education, W.C.(1980). The Education System of Costa Rica. Education Around the World.

Munoz, N. (n.d.). UNESCO – Education for All – Knowledge sharing – Grassroots stories – Caribbean. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved February 27, 2013, from http://www.unesco.org/education/efa/kn

National Inform: The Development of Education Costa Rica. (n.d.).ibe.unesco. Retrieved February 25, 2012, from www.ibe.unesco.org/International/ICE47/

General Education in Costa Rica

Like many others countries, Costa Rica provides free general education to it’s citizens. However, the structure and content of the educational system are unique.

Table 1 shows the different levels, duration, and curriculum of the typical educational structure in Costa Rica.

Levels Preschool Cycle 1: Elementary Education Cycle 2: Elementary Education Cycle 3: General Education Completed Advanced Level
Duration 1 Year 3 Years 3 Years 3 Years 2-3 Years
Curriculum Mathematics, language (Spanish and English), science, social studies, religion and physical education Health, fine arts, media, sciences and letters, business, industry, and agriculture

The basic educational system consists of a preschool level of at least one year; a general basic education level of nine years. These nine years are divided into three cycles of three years duration each–the first two cycles represent elementary education. The third cycle completes a student’s general education. Basics such as mathematics, language (Spanish and English), science, social studies, religion and physical education are covered in elementary school. Students are required to pass tests to move to the next level.

Following the ninth year of school, students move to a more advanced level of two or three years duration, offering options such as health, fine arts, media, sciences and letters, business, industry, and agriculture; Finishing at 11th grade. High School students must pass the Bachillerato Tests to receive a high school diploma and to gain admission to universities.

There are private schools in Costa Rica. Students attending the private schools have much the same curriculum as public school students but also have the chance to take SAT exams and can also receive the IB diploma through special studies in their Junior and Senior years.(source)

Language Schools Make a Comeback in Costa Rica

After being hit by the economic crisis in 2008, language schools in Costa Rica are making a recovery. 

Wizard Language Institute is established in San José, Costa Rica

Although many schools remain closed, those who have re-opened their doors say they are optimistic for the future of their programs.

“Independent schools must compete with brands with multiple locations, including Intensa, Berlitz, the Costa Rican-North American Cultural Center (CCCN), Universal, Inlingua and the new Wizard Institute“, writes Gabe Dinsmoor.

So how can schools compete for the valuable but limited customers?

“Many of the schools are investing in technology to try to keep up with, or surpass, the competition” states Dinsmoor. For example, the most successful companies are using Blended Learning, which incorporates Smart phones into the curriculum.

 


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