Education, Science and Technology > Education, Training, Science & Technology
Secondary Schools and the Transition to Work in Latin America and the Caribbean
By Martin Carnoy, Claudio de Moura Castro, Laurence Wolff (02/00, EDU-112, En, Es)
This paper discusses the organization of secondary schools in Latin America and the Caribbean. It deals with the confusing and controversial matters of providing schools for an increasingly heterogeneous clientele and the triple role of preparing students for higher education, forming solid citizens and offering training for those who will finish their schooling at this level. As countries in the region rediscover secondary education following over a decade of neglect and oblivion, they grope for answers that are not there.
The paper explores the different meanings, functions and problems of secondary education, as well as the various solutions that are being offered. This is a paper about deciding whether to put students together or track them in different institutions; about offering the same content to all or teaching different materials, depending on the profile of students; about using the same delivery strategies or adapting them to groups of students; and about deciding where and when to offer job training and how close to real occupations it will be. There is a lot more to education than these organizational matters. Yet, if the organization patterns are not appropriate to the circumstances, it becomes much harder, if not impossible to offer a good education to today's diverse student body or to the even more diverse student body entering secondary schools.
The first section of this report discusses the nature of the problem worldwide, namely, the difficulties resulting from conflicting roles for secondary schools and the increasing diversity of students, as well as the solutions attempted in Europe and the United States. It then describes the current situation in Latin America and its shortcomings. The third section assesses new trends and options under discussion or being implemented. The last section draws some lessons from the experience and discusses some general trends.
Last updated: 02/22/07
