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SPAIN: Teachers receive ongoing training to address challenges in education today

SPAIN

(MissionNewswire) Salesian teachers who took part in continuing education courses focusing on the management of educational centers and pastoral coordination received their diplomas at the Atocha Center in Madrid, Spain. The training course, which educated 80 teachers from Salesian schools, offered both classroom and online lessons focused on some of the challenges in teaching today.

During the graduation ceremony, Professor Rafael Díaz Salazar, faculty of sociology, international relations and political science at Complutense University of Madrid, presented a paper entitled, “Teachers with their feet on the ground.” He stressed the importance of helping students understand their role, especially from an ecological perspective.

Teachers who attended the courses also spoke at the graduation. Marta Parrado, a teacher at Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in Aravaca, noted, “It is we who have the responsibility to accompany, help, delegate and leave when necessary as Don Bosco did.”

Yulema Pedro, a teacher at the Salesian-run St. Anthony Abate Center in Valencia, said, “Teachers of the Salesian schools are witnesses, guides, companions, guarantors and leaders of the Salesian style that makes us special.”

Teachers play an important role in the lives of poor youth in Salesian schools. Their work is vital to their students’ success both in and out of the classroom. Salesian missionaries educate more than 1 million youth in over 5,500 schools and youth centers and nearly 1,000 vocational, technical and agricultural schools in more than 130 countries around the globe.

Salesian missionaries understand the importance of education in building strong sustainable societies and are dedicated to increasing the number of trained teachers where they are needed most. Not only are the Salesians a major employer of quality teachers worldwide, but they also provide the training and certification teachers need. Salesian programs provide ongoing teacher training to ensure that teachers remain motivated and effective in the classroom and have their own educational needs met.

“Teachers are the backbone of the Salesian educational system and we are dedicated to providing the support and training they need,” says Father Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Salesian teachers face many challenges educating poor youth. Many of their students have faced severe poverty and often lack basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter. Some were previously living and working on the streets, and others have faced war as child soldiers or become refugees in war-torn communities. Salesian teachers meet these challenges head-on, providing education and hope for a brighter future.”

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.

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.

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Sources:

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

ANS – Spain – Teachers of Salesian schools: Ongoing formation to educate students and offer quality education

Salesian Missions – Spain

World Bank – Spain