Vocational Education andTraining in Cuba : A Process ofChanges Towards Learning inthe Workplace

• Cuba, a country with an estimated populationof 11,326,616 inhabitants (Worldometer,2020), which has been ruled by a one-partysystemsince 1959, and whose developmenthas been marked by a trade embargo imposedby the United States since 1960 and the fallof the Soviet Union in 1991 (Binns,1996) isarguably a land of contradictions and of significantpolitical polarization. Standpointstowards Cuban society are often mediated byindividual political positions and consequentlydiffer.The very word, Cuba, conjures images ofclassic American cars, faded colonial mansions,colorful music and dancing, lush greenfields, and cigars and rum. Looking deeper,this country, which has experienced colonialrule, revolution and economic isolation,remains resilient and innovative. The threeheroes, José Martí, Fidel Castro and ErnestoChe Guevara, have influenced the values ofthe Cuba of today.This is particularly evident in education. From their speeches, and especiallythose of Martí, the theme of educationis that it is the only means to be saved fromslavery (Chávez Rodríguez, 2011). Between1959 and 1961, the structure of ‘a national,coherent and harmonious school system’(Chávez Rodríguez, 2011, p.45) was established,reinforced by the Declaration of Cubaas a Territory Free of Illiteracy in 1961. Thiswas the beginning of the establishment of asocialist education.The accomplishments of the Cuban educationsystem are widely acknowledged internationally(Wolf, Hernández Penton, Beltrán& Romero, 2011). Education became a corestrategic priority in the policies of the revolutionarygovernment that came to power in1959 and continued as a priority until thepresent time (2020). The literacy campaignof 1961 laid the foundations of the subsequenteducational development of the country(López, 2011). Cuba is also recognizedfor its inclusive and free education system(Breidlid, 2007).

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogy (hsv//eng)

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pedagogik

Education

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