Transforming Education Through Autonomous Learning: Proposals For Significant Educational Transformation
The 2025 VI Educ Tech Innovation Summit Kicks Off: A Game-Changing Discussion on Education in Latin America
Things got real at the Ticmas auditorium on May 5th, 2025, during the VI Educ Tech Innovation Summit, held as part of the 49th International Book Fair of Buenos Aires. For another year, Ticmas brought together some of the most influential pedagogical minds in Latin America to tackle the urgent issues facing classrooms across the region. The focus was on school transformation, teacher training, and learning that matters - straight talk, no sugarcoating.
One of the hottest debates was "Classroom and Beyond: Navigating Primary Education's Waters", a star-studded panel featuring Carola Martínez, educational director of the River Plate Institute, Daniela Reyes, educational powerhouse, and Vanessa de Mier, language guru. The conversation was masterfully guided by Patricio Zunini.
The panel covered a range of topics, including autonomy, evaluation, teacher training, pedagogical evidence, and interdisciplinary education. The speakers shared their vast experience and offered practical, evidence-based insights into these vital issues. The dialogue covered present challenges, future projections, and a healthy dose of reality checks.
You might be intrigued by: Primary Education 2.0: Empowering Teachers and Fostering Self-Directed Learning
Embracing Classroom Autonomy
Carola Martínez, educational maestro at River Plate, explained her institution's innovative strategy of nurturing learning self-regulation from day one, focusing on seemingly small decisions like who chooses a book or names an object. These decisions are part of a broader strategy aimed at creating independent learners who can take charge of their educational journey.
Later, these actions evolve into interdisciplinary projects where students research and create their own work, all while exercising their newfound autonomy. Autonomy is not just a buzzword; it's a shift in pedagogical logic.
"We're not just about teaching them facts and figures. We want to spark curiosity and ignite passion in these young minds," Martínez elaborated.
Teacher Autonomy: Embracing Change and Overcoming Resistance
Daniela Reyes, an education pioneer, shifted gears and explained the importance of understanding and working within the resistance of teachers. Rather than viewing resistance as a roadblock, she argued that it should be seen as a starting point.
"I work with teachers who tell me that a new method isn't working. I listen to them, learn from them, and find ways to adapt and improve," she shared.
Sustainable processes of teacher development are rooted in rigorous instructional design, grounded in theories and practices that make sense in the classroom. As teachers see the impact on their students, they become eager participants in the transformation.
What's the Score? Evaluating Effective Teaching
When asked how we can be sure we're teaching effectively, the panel unanimously agreed: "We need evidence." The experts perceived that continuous, concrete, and actionable learning insights are crucial to education improvement.
Vanesa de Mier, a literacy ace, spoke about a fluency reader program she introduced in 2022 in Buenos Aires schools. It boasted a systematic and explicit teaching perspective, bolstered by cognitive psychology and psycholinguistics. The project, aimed at 4th-graders struggling with reading, transformed initial reluctance towards reading into a desire to read and share their skills with others.
Martínez, on the other hand, emphasized the importance of diagnostic evaluations as tools to understand student abilities and learning needs, not as grading mechanisms. “Let's seek out evidence. If we don't know where we're starting and where we're going, it's impossible to know what's needed,” she asserted.
Evaluation: Diagnosis and Catalyst for Progress
Throughout the panel, there was criticism of the compartmentalized subject scheme. “That's not language. That's not math. That's what they made us believe it is,” warned Reyes. The bombshell: we need to rethink our vision for the future generations.
De Mier suggested that language should be thought of as a tool for understanding the world and connecting knowledge. Agreeing, she emphasized that integrated projects often fail to address the underlying learning processes, ending up more like surface-level exercises.
"We need to focus on the journey, not just the destination," de Mier emphasized.
The conversation closed in unison, around a word that echoed through each interaction: evaluation. Not in its traditional sense, but as a diagnostic tool and catalyst for progress.
Reyes emphasized that improvement demands continuous reflection, collaboration, and collective knowledge construction. "That transformation from a reluctant reader to an enthusiastic reader is a type of evidence. Not quantifiable, but evidence," she reiterated.
Martínez, from her hands-on experience, advocated for a system of co-evaluation, self-evaluation, and metacognition. "Let the student say: I reached my goal."
Out of time, Patricio Zunini posed one last question: advice for teachers struggling to adapt to a changing landscape. The responses were a summation of the panel's approaches: "There's always another way," confirmed Carola Martínez. "Let's unite," proposed Daniela Reyes. "Seek out evidence," concluded Vanesa de Mier.
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Related Topics
Carola Martínez
Daniela Reyes
Vanesa de Mier
Primary Education
Ticmas
FIL 2025
- The panel discussion at the Ticmas auditorium during the VI Educ Tech Innovation Summit also touched upon the topic of international education and self-development, with Carola Martínez emphasizing the importance of fostering self-directed learning in her institution, the River Plate Institute, and Vanesa de Mier sharing insights about evidence-based teaching approaches for primary education and literacy programs.
- In the debate on classroom autonomy, Daniela Reyes, an education pioneer, mentioned the necessity to embrace change and work within resistance from teachers, arguing that this should be seen as a starting point for teacher development, leading to a more cohesive and self-directed learning environment within international education.
