Teachers with purpose

Teachers with purpose program was stablished in 2013 among the AFS Partners of the Caribbean Region (Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Dominican Republic and Venezuela).

Is a full scholarship program, designed to help educators develop intercultural skills while living an experience abroad. Thus, they have the opportunity to learn and exchange teaching methods and changing perspectives on themselves and on education in the institutions they visit.

As a result, project beneficiaries develop the capacity to expand intercultural and Global Competence in their institution, making a positive impact directly on their students, their colleagues, parents and, in general, on their educational community.

This scholarship program is designed for teachers of secondary education institutions with high interest in intercultural education and Global Competence.

These are the AFS Organizations, belonging to the Latin American Alliance for Intercultural Learning – ALEI -, which are part of the Educadores con Causa program: AFS Argentina and Uruguay, AFS Brazil, AFS Chile, AFS Colombia, AFS Costa Rica, AFS Guatemala, AFS Mexico, AFS Panama, AFS Paraguay, AFS Dominican Republic and AFS Venezuela.

Scope and impact

Teachers with Purpose started with 7 participating countries, and has expanded to 14, increasing its regional impact.

During 5 years of operation, the project has had an outreach of 110 participating teachers, counselors and school principals from public and private schools, from rural and urban contexts; more than 14,000 students have benefited from the experience; 80 hosting institutions and 94 sending institutions.

How do we do it?

The AFS international network has the structure and operational capacity to allow educators to live intercultural immersion experiences in Latin American countries, living in a host family and sharing teaching methodologies different from their own with international peers. This is a transformative experience, which changes their perspectives on themselves and the schools they visit.

ALEI promotes Educators with a Cause in order to increase opportunities for teachers from public and private educational institutions across the country to access exchanges with their peers. High school educators, principals and counselors who travel abroad apply their horizons, learn from different cultures and perspectives, and bring new knowledge to their lives and classrooms.

Educators with a Cause brings together Latin American countries around intercultural education and seeks to create a just and peaceful world through understanding between cultures and building on differences.

Teachers with Purpose at Unesco

AFS presented its prestigious Educators with a Cause teacher exchange program at the 2019 UNESCO Forum on Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship in Ha Noi, Vietnam, July 2-3.

AFS Country Directors Sherifa Fayez (Egypt) and Cecilia Vasquez (Guatemala) focused on how this immersive learning experience supported by online and facilitated intercultural learning opportunities broadens the perspectives of teachers determined to globalize their classrooms. The UNESCO Forum, which focused on “learning and teaching for peaceful and sustainable societies” attracted 350 educators, experts, practitioners and policy makers from 100 countries.

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