Wide Horizon Perspective In Ecuador

Wide horizon perspective in Ecuador

Introduction

Interculturality is a challenge for Ecuadorian education, a critical discussion about the intercultural problem in Ecuador must be made. It is a matter of great importance since the Ecuadorian State itself has been defined as intercultural and plurinational;and the laws and regulations that proceed from it have defended and expanded these notions.

However, the reflections made around the problem of interculturality in Ecuador have always been reduced to an "indigenous issue";While the civil society of our country remains outside the deep demands required by the practice of interculturality.

Therefore, its empathy to the ethnic groups of Ecuador can be relevant and current at the same time, because while in the legal documents the intercultural issue appears clearly exposed;In practice, it is necessary to develop numerous processes that allow the inhabitants of this country to develop true intercultural skills.

The objective is to allow in teaching practice the articulation of intercultural and multi -ethnic education, in order to strengthen national unity in the midst of diversity.

On the other hand, interculturality marks diverse cultural identities that require special attention in an attempt to allow ancestral traditions and customs combined with changes in today’s society.

This is how an intercultural education for all citizens must be guaranteed, at all levels and modalities, and with cultural relevance for communities, peoples and nationalities.

All educational institutions must have a good inclusion plan for students from diverse cultures and ethnicities.

Developing

Notion of interculturality, the last century was characterized, among other things, by the incorporation of new themes to anthropological reflection. One of them is interculturality.

It could be affirmed that the problem of interculturality has emerged as a result of the deepening-discussion of the culture problem. Well, from the matrix notion of culture a terminological constellation has been developed that depends on it. For example, notions such as: cultures, acculturation, inculturation, multiculturality, multiculturalism and interculturality can be mentioned.

AND. Tylor, in Primitive Culture, considers that culture is related to the abilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. Among the abilities that Taylor mentions are: knowledge, beliefs, art, moral, laws and custom.

After him numerous authors have worried about the problem of culture: cultural anthropologists, sociologists, philosophers, etc. Among philosophers there are even a "philosophy of culture". As an example, David Sobilla’s recent work (2013) Filosophy of culture can be cited.

The philosopher is interested in the problem of culture as a human problem. In this sense, the question about interculturality seeks to unravel the anthropological implications that exist between cultures and education.

This section seeks to carry out an analysis of the notion "interculturality". Because it is a relatively new issue, the understanding of the concept of interculturality could be conflicting and even ambiguous. So much so that, in some cases, when the defense or impulse of interculturality is announced, what is done in practice is closer to a multicultural promotion. Therefore, it is imperative to define some of the terms of the aforementioned constellation of culture.

Pluriculturality consists in the finding of the existence of two or more cultures within the same territory and its possible interrelation, also affirming the importance of its recognition and its valuation on equal terms: cultural pluralism must defend itself as a category of alldemocratic society, as existence of many cultures in the same territory, defending the recognition of the other and equality.

The notion of multiculturality includes the following components: the explicit acceptance of the physical presence (co-existence) of more than one culture within the same territory and in the same historical period;the absence of intentions and/or plans that allow interaction between them;The accentuation of the differences between the various cultural groups, until it becomes true isolated neighborhoods, as Garcia points out in interculturality: Challenge for Education:

Multiculturality accepts the existence of several cultures in the same context and time. They are temporarily and spatially but it occurs, at the same time, enough remoteness (in terms of perceptions and attitudes) to avoid the relationship between them. This situation comes to accentuate the differences and create authentic ghettos, isolated neighborhoods as an archipelago.

Intercultural education, teacher training and collaborative work is evident that, from educational institutions, we can no longer consider the alternative to the situation of multiculturalism only as a compensatory education, but it is urgent to create the necessary conditions for students toAll cultures have a type of educational processes that allow them?, work on the establishment of new values.

In short, participate in a type of collective knowledge generating education applicable to social improvement. However, multicultural education is defended as an allegation in favor of tolerance, but does not have among its objectives the modification of ethnocentric models because it denies the structural aspects of racism, both in society and in the educational system.

Multicultural education ignores such determining elements in social relations as economic position, access to resources, and discrimination in matters of employment, housing, etc.

That is, multiculturalism ends up excluding from its approaches any issue that affects power and decision -making capacity. This does not happen with intercultural education that, heiress of these traditions, is born in a socio -political context that has evolved from assimilationist positions in the attention to cultural differences towards other positions in which these differences are addressed in the framework of democratic values ofEquity and social participation.

Intercultural education always implies interaction, exchange, breakup of isolation, reciprocity, solidarity between cultures, as well as the recognition and acceptance of the values and life modes of others. In the light of this, it is evident that the approach of intercultural education represents a true Copernican revolution: concepts such as "identity" and "culture" are no longer understood staticly, but dynamic, in continuous evolution;Alterity, emigration, life in a complex and multicultural society is no longer considered as risks, but as opportunities for enrichment and personal and collective growth (the encounter with the foreigner with the individual ethnically and culturally different, represents a possibility ofconfrontation and reflection in the level of values, of norms, of behaviors).

Therefore, intercultural education refers to a reforming tendency both at the theoretical and practical level that is part of an international interest in taking into account the various cultural groups, although we have already seen that not all ‘solutions’ given to plurality are worthyto be called intercultural.

Although, naturally, intercultural education is not the panacea in the elimination of racial prejudices, obviously, but it must be understood as an intentional, systematic and long -term process that, together with other educational, school and social processes, is intended toTrain individuals and groups to deal with such prejudices, and their social manifestations, through educational and social strategies linked to the political conditions and social practices of their recipients.

Organic Law of Intercultural Education Article 78, The Bilingual Intercultural Education System viables the exercise of the collective rights of communes, communities, peoples and nationalities;It is based on the intercultural, plurinational and multilingual character of the State, in accordance with its public policies and international treaties and instruments.

It aims to apply, develop and promote public policies for bilingual intercultural education with community participation and social actors that include community school governments, to guarantee good living in the plurinational state.

Promote student learning to your community. The accountability to the community will be permanent by the servers, according to the principles of transparency and the control systems established by the Constitution of the Republic and the Law.

The administrators and teachers will have the obligation to speak and write the language of the respective nationality, and to reside in the corresponding territory. They will be appointed through merit and opposition competitions.

Conclusions

The conception of interculturality involves recognition, interaction, understanding and prolific dialogue of cultures present within the same space-time coordinates.

The concept of "interculturality" used in Ecuador can be qualified as "reductive". Well, in some cases this assumes the meaning of bilingual intercultural education, almost exclusively oriented to the indigenous population;While, in others, it serves to refer, in addition to the numerous indigenous nationalities, to the Ecuadorian and Montubia Afro groups, leaving aside the numerous cultures and subcultures that have been incorporated into the Ecuadorian reality, the product of the migrations of recent years.

Pluricultural education is very important for society to cultivate the different cultures that exist in our country and throughout the world, the essential component in this process of teaching and learning the values, skills, attitudes and knowledge for socialization.

In education, teachers should have special planning, organization and infrastructure where students of diverse cultures have the opportunity to train within multiculturalism, teaching them to feel, think and act, in such a way that they value, understand and live in harmony.