School itineraries beginning Secondary School. Argentine schools experiences

Abstract

According to the National Education Act No. 26 206, the extension of compulsory schooling from the age of five (5) years until the completion of secondary education level is a decision designed to protect and make real the rights of all Argentine children and adolescents. It implies a very significant challenge for society and the government. This study aims to give ideas to the necessary selective matrix mutation with which high school was designed. This was carried out through an analysis and interpretation of data from a survey about features, ideas and opinions in a universe of 40 schools, 300 teachers and principals, and 3,000 students from four Argentine provinces participating in the UNICEF program «Cities for Education». We received the technical assistance from the Asociación Civil Educación para Todos whose aim is to ensure a well-timed and quality school itinerary for all students who attend the beginnings of high school. The first challenge involved in compulsory secondary schooling requires ensuring that all beginners can finish it, since there is information indicating that the high coverage of the school start suffers significantly as they progress in years of schooling. The decision to drop out of school is being built along the school years, after a string of failures that undermines the expectations they have regarding their ability to learn and the meaning of their permanence in the educational system. To solve this problem, we should see desertion as a process of interacting factors that increase the likelihood for students to make the decision to drop out. To identify these factors clearly, understanding how they impact on school itineraries, to spot what the most vulnerable population is, to analyze why the current school proposal seems to lead many young people out of the classroom, are steps on the way to protect the right to education.