Teaching for life
Trade Schools in Cuba enhance social skills, personal growth and independence
- Español
- English
The tree is almost in the middle of the school. It holds all the wisdom of several decades. Its presence embraces, welcomes, accompanies. Its shade invites you to let go, relax and make a fresh start.
It is rare not to see someone in its shelter meditating, writing, or talking under the tree of secrets.
“It is a symbolic space where students can share their experiences, concerns and achievements in confidence,” said Liudmila Linares Consuegra, an educational psychologist at the Abel Santa María Cuadrado Trade School in Villa Clara.
“This tree represents trust, solidarity and mutual support among educational community members. It treasures inspiring testimonies of self-improvement, collaboration and personal growth that have emerged through this space for dialogue and reflection,” said Leticia, in her role, accompanying the educational community
The tree is a metaphor that she applies to each of the country’s 52 Trade Schools (TS). It symbolises resilience, perseverance, refuge and love. Education is not complete without a significant amount of love, especially in teaching methods such as this one, which carries stereotypes and stigmas about their students, many of them with great stories of family and learning challenges.
In this regard, Linares Consuegra adds: “If I had to bust one myth about TS, I would change the perception that it is a less valuable educational option than traditional academic education. I would show how they provide practical and specialised training that can be equally valuable and rewarding for students.”
Adolescents in TSs come from various backgrounds. Their composition is heterogeneous and marked by students with learning barriers, behavioural situations or living with disabilities. These aspects become a discriminatory stigma that includes not only the students, but also the very social role of these educational centres. Today, the 52 schools have 2,552 students, 42.6% of whom live with disabilities.
These educational institutions have a vocational orientation. This includes the training and development of skills for work in various branches of industry, agro-industry and services, as well as the appropriate social integration of their graduates.
For Lázaro Garbán Guerra, head of the Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán Trade School in Matanzas, the inclusion and preparation of students are more important than the labels minimising the work in this education.
On this issue, Garbán Guerra adds: “Personally, I have learned to work with the individual differences of the students, diversity, educational inclusion and I have strengthened the value of humanism. In addition, adolescents with intellectual disabilities who attend our centre receive better preparation for their lives.”
“These schools have the potential to offer inclusive training and work development opportunities, where all students can learn and grow together, respecting their differences and potential,” Liudmila Linares argues, from her own experience.
For this year, 2024, UNICEF continues to accompany the social and behavioural change strategy with the implementation of a comprehensive gender strategy.
As part of this focus on personal life projects, in a more empowered vision regarding the trades and individual capacities of those who graduate from the TSs, there is also the training of their teaching staff and families.
UNICEF contributes to the knowledge management of teachers and managers of the country's TSs by implementing and developing new curricula.
Currently, in partnership with UNDP, UNICEF is working to strengthen teachers’ digital competencies and promote a technological transformation in the teaching process of trade schools. To this end, it has set up 18 multimedia classrooms in the same number of schools in the country and is introducing a training plan for teachers and management staff.
“We must make the characteristics of our centres known in primary and secondary schools’ families and promote direct meetings between adolescents and their families with specialists from the TSs,” explained the head teacher from Matanzas.
For her part, the educational psychologist of the school in Villa Clara reinforces the interest in this aspect: “Families should know more about this educational option because it is a relevant and significant choice for many young people. It is important that they know about the opportunities offered by these schools in terms of vocational training and development of specific skills.”
Then, the promotion of vocational training among adolescents and the sensitisation and training of teachers and families on the need to instil life skills for employment and decent work has a double impact.
- The trades taught at the Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán School in Matanzas are confectionery, bakery, kitchen assistant, gardening, handicrafts, mechanical assistant, lathe assistant, masonry assistant and carpentry assistant.
- On the other hand, the trades taught at the Abel Santa María Cuadrado School in Villa Clara are gastronomy and commerce, masonry, carpentry, maintenance, general assistant, hairdressing, food processing and agriculture.
