To the education in Colombia a measurement challenge was added staffing ratios and quality of the teaching workforce. This was confirmed by the report ‘Who studies pedagogy in Latin America and the Caribbean?’, of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Elige Educar.
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According to the study, the country has a particularity around the enrollment of the Initial Teacher Training (FID) program, which is defined as the first link to start a teaching career. According to the document, in elementary school, Registration in this type of training for 2011 was close to 56,000 registrations. However, over the years, there was a downward trend, which led to the fact that in 2020 (last year of registration), registrations for these were around 14,000 registrations. In other words, it presented a 2% drop annually.
Additionally, there is a high enrollment in higher education, but a low proportion of enrollment in FID programs. The evolution of enrollment in this type of training, for 2020, was close to 300 registrations per 100,000 inhabitants in the country.
It should be noted that one of the reasons proposed by the organizations in the face of low enrollment goes back to the policies such as stricter standards for entry into FID programs, as well as their duration, financing or scholarships “can affect the attractiveness of the career to attract applicants”, they assure.
In terms of selectivity of permanent teaching positions, it is ensured that Colombia, Ecuador and Peru have very rigorous selection tests, which means that only 25% of the candidates manage to meet the minimum requirements to access. For this reason, the IDB assures that this could be an element that indirectly influences the decision to study a career in teacher training.
Another aspect to be highlighted is that 75% of the enrollment in FID programs in Latin America is female. Likewise, this behavior is reflected in Colombia. 64% of the enrollments in this training are women, while 36% are men. This means that six out of ten enrolled are women.
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Additionally, female enrollments, according to the level of education to be taught, reflect that 96% are directed towards pre-primary education, followed by 56% in primary education. Similarly, 54% opted for the secondary level route. It should be noted that, according to the study, Colombia stands out as one of the countries in the region with the smallest representation gap between men and women in primary education, just as it stands out in the annual increase in men enrolled in FID programs for secondary education.
When comparing female enrollment with other professional careers, initial teacher training is one of the most feminized, being only surpassed by psychology, nursing and journalism in Colombia. The careers with the least presence of women are engineering, medicine and law.
Looking at Initial Teacher Training according to the type of management of the institution, the study determined that in the country 64% of enrollments are in the public sector, while 36% are in the private sector.
Academic performance also plays a fundamental role, in Colombia those enrolled in the FID training present an average score (54) lower than the other careers in the State tests. According to the study, “this is evidence that aspiring teachers enter higher education with worse academic performance”.
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The management of the graduation school is also highlighted. Among the results is that 90% of the enrollment in these teaching programs is made up of students graduated from public schools, who on average belong to low or medium-low socioeconomic levels.
Likewise, it is ensured that in Colombia, the registrations to the FID, is made up between 8% and 10%, of graduated students from rural schools.
Teachers in Colombia.
There are almost 23 million enrolled in the FID programs in the region.
According to the document, there has not been a displacement of enrollment from other disciplines to FID programs.
Colombia is well positioned against Brazil, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Panama and Uruguay, since these countries have a low selectivity of applicants and a high incidence of non-university institutions teaching these programs.
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Regarding the participation of women in FID programs, at the highest end, stand out Belize, Argentina, Jamaica and Chile, with around 80% female enrollment.
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