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The annual meeting organized by RedFID to address the challenges faced by Chile in this area, was held for two days at the U. de Magallanes.
At the beginning of January, at the Universidad de Magallanes (UMAG) in Punta Arenas, the Third National Meeting of Mathematics Teacher Trainers was held for two days, organized by RedFID, an initiative that is part of the UNESCO Chair Teacher Training to Teach Mathematics in the 21st Century, of the Education Laboratory of the Center for Mathematical Modeling (CMMEdu) of the University of Chile. The event, held on January 8 and 9, was attended by more than 35 trainers from 20 universities in Chile to discuss mathematics, teacher training and the knowledge and practices of trainers.
At the opening ceremony, which was led by the rector of UMAG José Maripani, the director of CMMEdu Salomé Martínez stressed that “the work in teacher training that we do at CMM is part of this UNESCO Chair that we have since 2019 and that was renewed until 2026 to generate social capital deployed throughout Chile to support improvements, both in initial and continuous teacher training, promoting the creation of learning communities, pedagogical resources and curricular innovations based on evidence that promote the generation of knowledge around teacher training”.
Joining forces to face a national challenge
Among the authorities attending the activity was Lilia Concha Carreño, director of the Center for Improvement, Experimentation and Pedagogical Research (CPEIP) of the Ministry of Education, who pointed out that the country needs to “promote the design of a route that is professionalizing and that occurs on the basis of a diagnosis that is full of challenges in the area of mathematics”.
“In particular,” he added, “we are very concerned that it is increasingly difficult to provide mathematics teachers in sufficient numbers, and also trained with the standards and quality that we require”. The authority emphasized that RedFID supports this process by providing tools to strengthen initial teacher training by working with trainers.
Meanwhile, UMAG academic Carmen Paz Oval Soto, member of RedFID and organizer of the meeting, commented that “this meeting has brought together trainers of mathematics teachers at different levels, at the initial, elementary and middle school levels. In addition, some of them also teach future special education teachers. So, it is an interdisciplinary group that has been consolidating over time”.
Helena Montenegro presenting to the audience of the RedFID 2025 Meeting.
Another CMMEdu researcher, Helena Montenegro, explained that RedFID was formed under the auspices of a Fondef project that was awarded, but that “although it has concluded, the participating trainers continue to be affiliated to this network. For three consecutive years, we have held this meeting in regional universities, with the participation of trainers from different universities and careers in Chile”.
Pedro Ivars, Academic at the Universidad de Alicante, Spain.
On the opening day of the event, the academic from the University of Alicante, Spain, Pedro Ivars presented the talk ‘Relationship between theory and practice: Principles of design in training programs to develop the competence to look professionally at mathematics teaching-learning situations’. In this talk he shared the experience of the research group in didactics of mathematics at the Universidad de Alicante in generating learning environments for teachers in training to develop competencies to look professionally at the mathematical thinking of students.
In addition, Christian Bustos, in charge of the National Diagnostic Evaluation of CPEIP, presented the conference ‘Criteria for use and interpretation of results of the National Diagnostic Evaluation of Initial Teacher Education’ and, in the afternoon, held a workshop aimed at learning and deepening the results of the National Diagnostic Evaluation of Initial Teacher Education in mathematics applied in the year 2023.
Sharing research and innovation experiences in teaching
On the second day of the meeting, there were three sessions of presentations of research experiences and pedagogical innovations, in which some of the trainers in attendance presented their work.
In the first session, academics from the Universidad del Desarrollo, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Universidad de la Serena and Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación presented studies in which the focus was to deepen the learning experiences of teachers in training.
Presentation of teachers at the RedFID 2025 Meeting.
In the second session, academics from the universities of Chile, O’Higgins, Pontificia U. Católica de Chile, Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación and Pontificia U. Católica de Valparaíso presented innovations in the teaching and learning of mathematics.
Finally, in a third session, academics from the universities Finis Terrae and Católica de Temuco shared the results of studies carried out on the research of their own teaching practice as educators.
By Iván R. Tobar Bocaz, journalist of the Center for Mathematical Modeling, Concepción.
Posted on Jan 30, 2025 in News
