Vicky Colbert (born Clara Victoria Colbert de Arboleda; 1948/1949) is a Colombian social entrepreneur.
She has served as Colombia's Vice-Minister of Education, [1] and is the founder and current Executive Director of Escuela Nueva Foundation. [2] She has won numerous awards for her work. In 2013 she received the Wise Prize for Education from the Qatar Foundation and in September 2017 she won the Yidan Prize for Education Development from the Yidan Prize Foundation. [1] [3]
Colbert came from a family with a strong interest in education reform. Her godfather had been Colombia’s minister of education, and her mother was a teacher who also founded teacher training colleges. [4] Her father was an officer in the U.S. Navy. [5]
A Ford Foundation scholarship allowed her to study comparative education as a graduate student at Stanford University. She then returned to Colombia where “I wanted to tackle basic education and work with the poorest of the poor schools, the isolated schools.” [4] She went to work in rural Colombia, where many families grow coffee. Children frequently dropped out of school to help on the family farm during harvest season, which created problems if they returned to class much later. [5] A related problem was that rural teachers often taught several grade levels in a single classroom. She saw the need to structure a system of education that was flexible enough to accommodate such schedules. In the mid-1970s she worked with others, notably Oscar Mogollón and Beryl Levinger to devise the model known as Escuela Nueva.[ citation needed ]
A key element of the Escuela Nueva school is that children learn at their own rate by using Learning Guide, which Colbert describes as "a combination of a textbook, workbook and a guide for the teacher." [5] These guides suggest hands-on activities for students to do both in school and at home. Students work their way through the guide at their own pace, with teachers serving as advisers, and students who have mastered a lesson often helping those who have not.
Inspired by the work of John Dewey, Maria Montessori, and other progressive educators, [5] the schools are also democratic in spirit, with teachers, students, and parents all involved in decision-making.
It took many years of effort for the Escuela Nueva model to become widespread throughout Colombia, but it is now used in 20,000 schools in that country. [4] Colbert noted that “it's not just governmental support but also ground support that is needed to influence change in the education system." [1] It has continued to spread and Escuela Nueva schools are now in 19 countries including Brazil, the Philippines and India. [4]
She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2017. [6]
The education system in Qatar is jointly directed and controlled by the Supreme Education Council (SEC) and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) at all levels. The SEC is responsible for overseeing independent schools, whereas the MOE is responsible for providing support to private schools. Formal schooling officially began in 1956. Primary schooling is obligatory for every child and is free in public schools.
Education in Colombia includes nursery school, elementary school, high school, technical instruction and university education.
Ann Lesley Cotton OBE is a Welsh entrepreneur and philanthropist who was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2006 Queen's New Year Honours List. The honour was in recognition of her services to education of young women in rural Africa as the founder of Camfed.
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Barefoot Foundation is a Colombian charity founded by pop artist Shakira in 1997, with the aim of helping poor and impoverished children. The Barefoot Foundation mission statement is "The Barefoot Foundation works to ensure that every Colombian child can exercise their right to a quality education. Our model targets displaced and vulnerable communities by addressing their unique needs."
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Oscar Mogollón Jaimes was an education visionary of the late 20th century who pioneered the Escuela Nueva model and the Active school approach, educational models that have been used to improve the quality of education of the poorest children around the world.
NGO involvement in Guatemala includes the following.
Beryl Levinger is an American academic and educator. She is professor of international development at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California.
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Escuela Nueva is an education model that emphasizes understanding over memorization and development of interpersonal skills. It originated in Colombia.
The Yidan Prize (/i:dan/) is a prize founded in 2016 by Chen Yidan for "contributions to education research and development". The prize is financed and governed by a HK$2.5 billion independent trust. It is a global, inclusive education award which recognizes changemakers who inspire progress in education for a better world, and has been referred to as the largest education prize on earth.
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