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Teachers in Mexico link education, art, and culture for a transformative educational model
In three emblematic venues in Mexico City, where knowledge, learning, and cultural re-creation connect: the building in Coyoacán of the Secretariat of Public Education (SEP), the National Center for the Arts (CENART), and the National Cinematheque, more than 500 teachers of elementary schools gathered with a shared mission to rethink the teaching of the arts, work interdisciplinarily, and design aesthetic experiences with a community vision and a focus on social change.
Education, culture, and the arts are human expressions that coexist in practice and nourish each other. However, perhaps unintentionally, they are often addressed through an artificial separation. Therefore, Mexico has taken on the mission to accelerate educational transformations to build peace, justice, and sustainable development.
Teachers of preschool, primary, and secondary from different localities participated in laboratories, conferences, and discussions at the "Education, Culture, and Arts in the New Mexican School" event to foster critical and creative thinking of children and adolescents in alignment with the key pillars that the SEP considers crucial for its renewed educational model.
The activity, planned since March 2020, was suspended due to the COVID-19 emergency. It required significant effort and technical talent from the SEP, CENART, and UNESCO's Education sector in Mexico to make it possible in person by the end of June 2024.
The teachers participated in activities coordinated by CENART specialists, addressing themes such as artistic practices related to corporality, space, and time, as well as exploring the aesthetics of the everyday and its intervention in public spaces.
Teachers exchanged experiences and perspectives on what they think, know, and expect from the arts in elementary education and how to face challenges related to the arts and cultural languages and the current curriculum.
Among the central debates, the SEP proposed the relationship between the arts and the national strategies for Reading, Addiction Prevention, and Healthy Living. Citlali Córdova, consultant for UNESCO Mexico, shared a detailed analysis of the Mexico arts curriculum progress and opportunities to integrate the UNESCO Global Framework for Culture and Arts Education, an international guideline agreed upon by UNESCO Member States in February 2024 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
In an unprecedented venue for teacher training, a room in the National Cinematheque, participants learned about educational experiences in cultural and community spaces, such as traditional cooks at the Center for Indigenous Arts (CAI) in TajÃn, Veracruz, listed as a Good Practice of Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO; the Wings and Roots program for promoting culture and the arts in formal and non-formal spaces for children and adolescents; and the National Cinematheque itself, recognizing the role of cinematic culture and cinemas as spaces of historical memory, social cohesion, and learning.
Rosy Gluyas from the Alberto Baillères Foundation, Asunción Pineda from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Karla Paniagua from the Center for Design, Film and Television, and Carolina Zúñiga, environmental activist and cultural promoter in the Sierra Gorda of Querétaro and UNESCO consultant, shared good practices and recommendations on how art and culture can transform communities and build more inclusive and sustainable futures.
The final dialogue highlighted the role of teachers in arts education. Taniel Morales, a contemporary artist and Visual Arts teacher at the Morelos Center for the Arts, and Chandel Dávila from the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI) debated on prevailing teaching roles to rethink pedagogies. Norma Muñoz from CENART described the experience of teacher training under the interdisciplinary approach and the methodological contributions made by the Center.
Finally, Teresa Arroyo from SEP, Antonio Zúñiga Chaparro from CENART, and Adolfo RodrÃguez from UNESCO Mexico discussed in the closing ceremony the importance of an event learning follow-up, committing more to the UNESCO Global Framework for Culture and Arts Education and supporting teachers who "will prepare the people and communities that will change the world."
The event marked a milestone for 21st-century citizenship formation, showcasing the possibilities and benefits of establishing deep connections between arts and creativity and community processes that accelerate the priorities of the New Mexican School and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda.
