Ecuador – Opening ceremony of the 4th Congress on Salesian Education

 

Father Francisco Sánchez, Chancellor of Universidad Politecnica Salesiana (UPS), welcomed the participants and stated how happy he was to see many people “meeting to share advances and trends. The congress is generating and creating pedagogical spaces that aim to share experiences in the development of competencies and thoughts, which lead us to strengthen the teaching-learning processes and incorporate new technologies “

Father Juan Cárdenas, UPS president, stated that: “The global crisis has caused profound changes in all areas of life and society, specifically in education, this pandemic has questioned our ways of educating people, our educational models, our practices, our physical and technological infrastructure, epistemological and methodological assumptions. But we have to be honest and realistic: Covid-19 does not invent the educational crisis, but makes it visible. UPS is pleased to inaugurate this congress. I am sure that we will take advantage of the speakers’ knowledge and experience. I want to thank everyone for attending “.

 

 

 

Father Miguel Ángel García said that “the value of this educational project for us Salesians, in all institutions, is because it constitutes an instrument that guides our school – university action: accompaniment The issue of personal accompaniment is not simply a task or a methodological complement, we are talking about the right of students to adequate accompaniment and receive effective help not only academically, but also personally “.

 

 

The keynote conferences were:      

 

• “Education for social transformation in times of global crisis” by Óscar Jara, president of the Council of Popular Education of Latin America and the Caribbean.

 

• “Performance and competencies in times of Covid-19”: by María Elena Ortiz, Pedagogy teacher at UPS. 

 

• Student mobilizations in the Chilean post-dictatorship: from 2001″ by Camila Ponce, from Universidad Católica Silva Henríquez de Santiago de Chile

 

There were 5 simultaneous forums based on four elements: education and social participation processes; child – youth citizenships; pedagogical and social transformations and preventive system and education.

 

 

The first day of the congress ended with a “virtual café”, an opportunity to discuss common interests among participants. There was also a conference “Transcendence and transformation of the publishing work in Ecuador. One hundred years of education in the style of Don Bosco”, presented by Father Javier Herrán, and the Digital Magazine “Juventud y Ciencia Solidaria: En el camino de la Investigación” in charge of Fernando Pesantez, General vice president of UPS and Paola Ingavélez, the editor.