Teachers without borders

Written in February 2016 to express the potential of the Pacific Alliance to improve effective learning in Latin America. When reading this article imagine it is the year 2030.

It is the year 2030, teachers and knowledge run without borders along the highways, and facilities built in four countries, spearheading similar initiatives across the region. We have teachers from the Pacific Alliance studying and interning at schools in these countries thanks to the technology and institutional capacity of ministries and congresses that facilitated partnerships between the education systems, strengthening learning of all kinds. Universities, too, have joined this wave of integration and adopted flexible models of accreditation to validate credit courses.

Like Uber, tutors and teachers of math, science, language and counselors are available for school heads and parents just a click away. These professionals are curious and entrepreneurial graduates with bachelor’s degrees in education and other fields, all sharing a global mindset.

These teachers without borders are an army at the service of students that comes and goes throughout the region recruiting “Ninis” (students who neither study nor work), combating and preventing school dropout of young people underserved by the traditional education system.

These teachers are facilitators that use alternative and flexible educational resources received through MOOCs -and their derivations-, complemented by meaningful face-to-face interactions in physical spaces that are booked through collaborative economy platforms like Airbnb. These places come alive as classrooms: museums, public libraries, theaters, parks, auditoriums, businesses, terraces of offices and spaces owned by anyone who wants to contribute and break down the barriers between the workplace, community life and the education system.

Companies contribute to teachers without borders by allowing the most empathetic and best communicating employees with highly specialized expertise to dedicate time to mentor teachers and students. Companies of the Alliance also support active learning and technical education because changes in all industries happen so fast that it is not sustainable for countries or companies held back by governmental outdated procedures that do not benefit the whole of society in general.

Companies recruit the students they are helping to educate, and in turn, these students train their employees on skills needed for the company to survive in a dynamic economy. Time is running out to create entrepreneurial opportunities and jobs to boost the regional economy.

As Jeff Bezos explained when planning Amazon University 2030, artificial intelligence used by Amazon, matches previous skills, knowledge and attitudes of his employees that allows Amazon to create the internal competency-based education system used to design internal training for their employees, which allows Amazon to provide educational services to millions of customers.

In short, it is 2030 and governments, companies and universities incorporate solutions to social demands for better education and employment with social security –deducted through micro transactions synchronized with the payment of the services-.

Citizens acknowledge this was possible due to the harmonious confluence of talent from diverse backgrounds combined with technology and enhanced by the consensus on this shared narrative: a human’s wellbeing is the ultimate societal aspiration.