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SPAIN: Salesian St. James Major Province provides training for 386 teachers on effective distance learning techniques

SPAIN

(MissionNewswire) The Salesian St. James Major Province in Spain recently coordinated a “Training Plan for the Development of Online Skills” project for educational centers. During the lockdown that resulted from the coronavirus pandemic, teachers had to quickly learn how to teach their lessons online. As a result of the change, educational centers needed training on how to facilitate distance learning most efficiently and effectively.

The training project had organizational support from TECH Don Bosco, and the State Foundation for Employment Training in Spain provided a virtual video conference room where the online courses were held. The basic training course provided digital teaching skills to 386 teachers, 58 of whom were on educational centers’ management teams. Teachers from all grade levels, from kindergarten to bachelor’s degrees and higher vocational training, participated.

The basic training course included four sessions of 90 minutes each that were structured to tackle various themes in online education including communication through the screen, security and digital teaching.

“There were morning and afternoon sessions,” explained Charo Fernández from the Salesian province innovation team and coordinator of this initiative. “We all worked together in an online environment divided into nine virtual classrooms. From time to time, as a coordinator, I visited the online classrooms to make sure there were no problems. I have been working on digital skills training for many years, but this was the first time we had organized such a thing. It worked perfectly.”

The training proposal for the development of distance teaching skills aims to support teachers and school management teams by strengthening their skills in achieving quality online education, and keeping the teaching and learning processes as close as possible to the Salesian educational style.

“The confinement was an opportunity to launch this proposal and the response of the teams, centers and teachers exceeded all expectations. We initially thought we’d give training to three groups, and in the end, we configured 12 of them. We have nine expert tutors with digital competence and Salesian Preventive System,” added Fernández.

Salesian missionaries have been working for many years to provide educational and workforce development opportunities for poor youth and women in Spain through residential and technical and vocational training programs.

Close to 37 percent of young Spanish workers under the age of 25 are unemployed and a growing number of them can’t afford to buy enough food to live. Poor youth with few employable skills struggle the most to find and retain stable employment. Women in Spain face inequality in the workforce. They earn up to 14 percent less than men and represent only 34.5 percent of those listed as the highest earners in Spain.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS) 

ANS – Spain – Distance teaching training exceeds all expectations: over 400 teachers trained in June

Salesian Missions – Spain

World Bank – Spain