RESPONSE OF THE CURRICULUM TO THE POST-PANDEMIC SITUATION: A VIEW FROM THE PRESCHOOL LEVEL

RESPUESTA del CURRICULO ANTE LA SITUACION POST PANDEMIA: MIRADA DESDE NIVEL PREESCOLAR

Lady Jocelyn Monroy-Sánchez¹

E-mail: lepjocelyn@gmail.com

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4400-4196

¹ Universidad Pablo Latapí Sarre. México.

ABSTRACT

The article focuses on the analysis of some post-pandemic manifestations about the problems that were caused in the return to face-to-face classes from a general perspective, to those manifested in the preschool stage, the role that the 2017 curriculum had at this stage and the relevance of the new educational reform, in the curricular proposal of the New Mexican School, and with this new proposal the challenges that teachers face, from a look at the curricular components.

Keywords:

Curriculum, educative model, post pandemic, New Mexican School.

RESUMEN

El artículo se centra en el análisis de algunas manifestaciones post pandemia sobre las problemáticas que se generaron en el regreso a clases presenciales desde una mirada general, hasta las manifestadas en la etapa preescolar, el juego que tuvo el plan de estudios 2017 en esta etapa y la pertinencia de la nueva reforma educativa, en la propuesta curricular de la Nueva Escuela Mexicana, y con esta nueva propuesta los desafíos que enfrentan los docentes, desde una mirada a los componentes curriculares.

Palabras clave:

Currículo, modelo educativo, post pandemia, Nueva Escuela Mexicana.

INTRODUCTION

Within the contributions of Molina Montalvo et al. (2022), the COVID 19 pandemic forced the temporary closure of borders, businesses, suspension of essential activities, rigid quarantines, forcing the confinement of entire families, one of the most tangible impacts for the author was the educational field, which was seen in the need to close doors for face-to-face activities, affecting millions of students and, above all, mobilizing options that guarantee the right to education, mobilizing the pedagogical model to digital environments where, despite efforts, there was too much inequality.

The importance of the school had never been as notorious as in these times, society valued its importance and the role of teachers, recognized that students learn among peers, that learning from its multidimensional nature does not occur in an individual way, because as Clemente Castellani (2020) expresses, human beings, in addition to being cognitive beings, are also emotional, social and rational beings, who learn with guides, who dialogue, who construct meanings and that this occurs beyond their family context, where during the pandemic the main concern in this context was to stay safe, experience mourning and seek the economy.

Undoubtedly, the greatest damage to education in general, as mentioned by Armenta Hernández et al. (2023), it was that of an emotional nature, mental health, the ways of coping with the situation by living it in the case of preschool students through what they heard, saw and imagined, and it was there from the point of view from the author that the effects generated by the pandemic lie in students from 4 to 6 years of age, since every human being deserves mental health from the understanding of it as the well-being through which they are able to face the day to day, with autonomy, resilience, productive and with the ability to support their immediate community, in the case of the preschool level is where this mental stability begins to make sense, to this practice of socialization, where they feel safe, autonomous, capable to dialogue, to build friendships, to function in society with empathy for the other, with the security of expressing what they feel and what they are capable of transmitting.

This fact was reflected in the return to face-to-face classes where not only had to adapt to the new sanitary measures, but also to the real confrontation of what a pandemic implied and the measures that continued to make impossible the social dynamics in which these socio-affective skills would be developed, learning among peers that will enhance their academic training and, in the case of teachers, the approach of didactic situations that will adjust to the conditions in which they should return to the classroom.

Federal, state, and local authorities, as well as all the agents involved, including teachers, had to reassess the relevance and the way in which the current educational model would respond to this situation, focusing on the main objective in the current educational model of learning keys to basic education in Mexico (Mexico. Secretariat of Public Education, 2017) in which priority is given to students developing harmoniously all the abilities of the human being and that at the end of basic education they are free, participatory, responsible and informed Mexicans, actively involved in society, politics and the economy of their country, motivated and trained for development in any context in which they operate, developing in them the 11 graduation profile features which will be achieved during the 4 articulated levels that range from preschool education to upper secondary level, having in each of these levels the objective of complying with the characteristics corresponding to each one.

Focused on the preschool level, the contribution towards the corresponding traits is based on the achievement of the purposes of preschool education, which aim for preschool children to gain confidence to express themselves, use mathematical reasoning, become interested in observing living beings, become appropriate the values ​​and principles necessary for life in society, develop a positive sense of themselves, use imagination and fantasy to express themselves through artistic languages, and become aware of their physical expression possibilities (Mexico. Ministry of Public Education , 2017), now it was the task of the school councils to assess the relevance of keeping in mind where they would start with so many inequalities in terms of progress and needs that needed to be emphasized as a priority (Martínez-Fresneda-Osorio, 2004; Gómez- Ortega & Cáceres-Mesa, 2022; Gutiérrez-Romero, 2023).

The subject of study that this research entails is based on the pandemic situation that was generated worldwide in the period 2019-2022, placing itself in the analysis of the response given by a curriculum designed at a time when a situation like this had not been presented, the impact it left on education and the manifestations of the lag it generated in them, as well as the way in which teachers made use of the 2017 curriculum, and the relevance of the New Mexican School curriculum to face the scenario and federal agreements that were established for present attention in the field of basic education where preschool education is included.

However, from the author's point of view, the main actions that emerged for the effectiveness of the curriculum or its rethinking, guided by political changes that also saw the interest of a rethinking.

METHODOLOGY

The methodology used in this essay is based on a study to review and systematize information using the method of documentary analysis, with which knowledge was obtained on the subject proposed for study, to combine it and make contributions that allow a better understanding of it. One of the processes that facilitated the obtaining of information from digital consultation documents was the analysis of texts which allowed giving meaning and shape to the ideas that were intended to be expressed according to the theme.

DEVELOPMENT

With the return of the students to school, the teachers faced a reality that revolved around inequalities of opportunities that the majority of their students had had, the search for solutions started with knowing if the current educational model would be capable of attending those priorities.

The educational model with which we continued to work in this post-pandemic period is flexible, however, as teachers we worked according to the needs that arose in each of the contexts where education was provided, the priority in the educational system at that time, was the collection of evidence, which justified the attention that was provided, but not the progress that was actually made in the education of girls, boys and young people in the country, Martínez García (2023), mentioned that in these times, it is necessary to start from the viability of the system's practices and take the pandemic into account as an opportunity for a paradigm shift, giving new meaning to education and its formative sense, where the context, communities, family, school and society are involved.

According to Bobbitt, cited in Angulo & Blanco (1994), he mentions that education prepares for life, therefore, it requires getting into the daily problems of the world to discover the peculiarities in them, which will show the capacities, habits, appreciations and the forms of knowledge that men need for the moment in which they live.

In 2019, before the pandemic situation, the federal educational authorities worked on the relevance of renewing a curriculum that would respond precisely to these needs identified in society, however, when the world situation occurred, which unleashed an economic, emotional, and health crisis, its reconsideration was under discussion and paused due to the essential attention of the contingency. It was not until January 2022 that after the crisis, the educational issue was prioritized due to the demonstrations presented in the lag of the students.

In this situation, the curricular rethinking, the relevance and feasibility studies were tangible, which respectively allow knowing the congruence between the new educational offer, the needs of social development and economic development of the environment in which it will be inserted; and the feasibility that is available for the mechanisms and essential factors that allow the project to be carried out, this mentioned by Angeles Guevara et al. (2017), given the emerging care situation and the watershed left by the pandemic, allowed this new proposal to be launched.

The Ministry of Public Education (2022), mentions that The New Mexican School starts from a humanist approach, proposes to put all the capacities and abilities of the human being at the center, as an integral being, whose primary value is human dignity, building relationships between knowledge, science, the environment, society, the earth, technology and the world in general, having a responsibility not only with knowledge but also with the sphere of life itself and respect for diversity.

Focused on the field of life itself, it responds to the importance given to life, education for itself, where learning is based on what is close to the life of each student, therefore this new curricular approach proposes project work, projects that arise from the needs faced in each of the contexts, knowing that previous models, intended the same but focused on homogeneity, made teachers follow established plans and programs.

The idea expressed in Luna Acosta & López Moctezuma (2014), on the role of the teacher, mentions that it is the teacher who is responsible for the design, implementation, evaluation, and permanent adjustments of appropriate actions for the integral development of the student through the promotion of learning and the construction of knowledge, skills and attitudes of the subjects in training, aware of this, the importance of the role of the teacher as a guide in the construction of learning is presented in the new curriculum, teachers within this curricular plan, they will be given the professional autonomy to decide based on the study programs on the didactic exercise, from their own development, both as teachers in search of what is essential for their students, to promote challenges to the students and that these in turn, they build their own concepts that allow them to meet the needs of their immediate environment, whose potential will be expressed throughout their academic life and the effectiveness in the future work environment.

Teachers need to know the curriculum in depth in order to understand its main objective and break with educational practices centered on the old school of education through content transmission. Nowadays, the current curricular project proposes the articulation with its formative fields and the articulating axes that make and strengthen the idea of ​​educating in an integral way, teachers must prioritize collaborative learning, one that allows personal development but contributes to their immediate community from the various phases as proposed.

The pandemic left this and how to begin to strengthen the role of the school, the role of the teacher was valued by society, but also reconsidered from a personal perspective by each teacher, from the question: what is the most important thing for students to learn? ? Or, what is the most necessary thing to work on in these post-pandemic times? The aforementioned humanist approach comes to mind, it is necessary to know and see that students need to be trained from their human capacities, not only of knowledge but from their capacity for empathy, respect for others, the work of their emotions, but not only identification but the validity and value of resilience, so that with the tests faced in their day to day they are able to get the best out of each test, recognizing that not everything is easy but everything presents an opportunity to be better for him, for those that surround him and for his own recognition with the planet in which he lives from a natural and social point of view.

Everything brought to light by the world situation allows this new curricular proposal to offer a curriculum that addresses ethnic, cultural, linguistic, ability and gender diversity, recognizing students from their diversity and uniqueness, as within their own community classroom integrating contents, units, and strategies that have an approach based on human rights, to achieve this it is important that the teacher designs an inclusion program in that autonomy in which, based on a diagnosis, he can propose strategies that promote an inclusive education.

Taking up some contributions from Solis del Moral & Tinajero Villavicencio (2022), the trajectory of this curriculum is also reflected in its flexible nature, both for teachers and students, recognizing their styles, rhythms and ways in which they learn and build their learning. In the case of teachers, their motivation to continue strengthening their teaching capacities, their flexibility to change and innovation, proposing methodologies or basing their practice on methodologies that promote teaching and guide the various contents proposed in this program.

The task is not easy but it is a path in which everyone's commitment is needed, to involve the main actors, in the center the students and hand in hand with them, teachers, family and community, contemporary changes require impact in society, to reinforce values, to encourage society for economic and cultural growth, without losing the riches left by those that happened years ago, the lack of empathy and life in society have made humanity subsist in its individuality without recognizing the participation of the other for common growth.

The need for attention to the sector with different abilities means that, today more than ever, links are established with specialized services, not only for intellectual needs, but also for physical emotional needs, etc., for the attention of vulnerable students, making this attention something enriching, breaking stigmas of discrimination and turning them into looks of common strengthening, causing students to have the need to have an empathetic thought and support and attention for the other.

The commitment of a teacher will lead him to the need to base his practice, to reassess the methodologies used, to investigate those that respond more effectively to the identified needs, based on the impact that he has as a responsibility to generate in the life of each one of his students.

The curricular proposal of the New Mexican School began its approach to the teaching union at the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year, more has been known about the fundamentals, the study of the objectives, the curricular components and the way in which it is intended to be implemented for the next school term. However, as teachers, the responsibility that this new plan and program is leaving must be acquired, as mentioned in Romo Sabugal (2019), the teachers who need the implementation of this curriculum must learn from those with more experience those issues that are essential and worth preserving, but at the same time they must discover and inquire about how a new teacher with vocation and values ​​can be built, but with alternatives, circumstances and tools that current life offers to teach for today's world, not for a Mexico that no longer exists.

In the author's personal way, the changes observed in behavior, interests of preschool students, social dynamics, the delays detected in students and the work with the 2017 educational model have allowed us to understand the importance that the new curricular approach brings with it, it is not a request of favoring it politically, which is the case of many testimonies that are heard in the CTE meetings, but of assessing its relevance, how enriching it can be.

It is about looking at reality and thinking about the future that you want to build, but not the future seen in the following years, but the immediate future of tomorrow literally, a future that advances from the proposals of students for the improvement in society, from the model of values, of the appreciation of families for their different conformations, of the enhancement of economic activities and the desire to have better opportunities, of the need and commitment for the preservation of the environment, from the manifestation of artistic languages, from the validation of emotions and their management, from health care in times of consumerism.

From the author`s point of view and from her educational practice at the preschool level, shares the enriching, the advantages of starting to work from contextualized projects, discovering needs that need to be addressed from the school to the community, because as mentioned in the official document of the Ministry of Public Education (2022), the school is a meeting point, one more experience - unique and irreplaceable that is related to other experiences within the community, such as the family, establishing a relationship between fundamental curricular knowledge and the social experiences they have as individuals, taking education from their immediate community to as near and far as global impact may sound.

To achieve this, it is intended that the student achieves his maximum fulfillment throughout his academic life and a human fulfillment in his work stage, doing what he likes and committed to the personal future and his social context. Today there is much talk about the importance of everyone having the same rights, the same opportunities and that no student is left behind, an important part of achieving this is the motivation with which the student manages to complete each phase of their academic life and this, although it is the responsibility of many actors, one of the main drivers corresponds to the way in which it is evaluated.

The evaluation is a subject that corresponds to the approach of a new curriculum, in a personal way in preschool education we have worked with a qualitative evaluation, and we are glad to recognize that this type of evaluation is resumed for the other levels or phases, because despite the fact that primary, secondary and high school levels work with summative assessments, the new curriculum proposes the formal implementation of qualitative assessment without neglecting the knowledge that students will build, it is important to assess the aptitudes, skills, competencies and ways in which they solve, participate and get involved in the various projects proposed.

Theoretically Friz Carrillo et al. (2009), understand the evaluation from the criterion of effectiveness, focusing on the fact that the development of a curriculum is carried out from planning, implementation and evaluation and that this in turn implies a close interrelation and coherence between these processes for a more pertinent and efficient achievement of the learning to favor, therefore, they express it as a fundamental criterion of the Curricular bases, then if the focus of this new curricular approach lies from humanism, we see each human being as unique and unrepeatable, for what its evaluation should be the same, valuing what it achieves, how it achieves it and promoting opportunities for improvement.

If we understand this as teachers, we will then understand that a student who manages to feel motivated in a formative evaluation will have a greater opportunity to comply with what is proposed in this new curricular approach, to educate for current life, for the community, for their own growth and that of their country; therefore, it is a fundamental role to be observant, to be open to the paradigm shift, to be innovative even in what is necessary and what is part of each of the students for their own construction of learning in this teaching process.

CONCLUSIONS

With the unexpected arrival of the SARS COV 2 pandemic, all the sectors and areas that make up the strengthening of a country found themselves in need of rethinking, transforming themselves to attend to what is essential.

In the case of education, it was no exception, although a curricular rethinking was underway at the beginning of 2019, its relevance and restructuring was driven by this need that emerged in the confinement stage.

The need to assess what worked and what should be reassessed, centered the main focus of this new proposal, educate for current life, from a comprehensive look at the student, from enhancing not only cognitive skills but also potential those that complement such as emotional abilities, artistic abilities, promoting the development of a critical intellect, that responds to what exists around them, to reconsider that the current conditions from the natural, social and global environment require students who are merely prepared under an accompaniment guide that allow them to create their own learning.

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