An Argentine teacher, among the 10 most remarkable in the world: "We are the best in the public school, but we always show the unemployed"

There were initially 10,000 applications from 179 countries. After the group was reduced to only 50 teachers in the race. Today, only 10 finalists compete for the World Teacher Award, which has earned the fame of the "Nobel Prize for Education". Martín Salvetti, who teaches at Temperley, does not let his astonishment. He recognizes you Infobae who almost abandoned his candidacy because he thought it was impossible, that his work in the conurbano would be unlikely to dazzle the world.

Martín is responsible for the automotive sector and responsible for adult vocational training at the School of Technical Secondary Education No. 5 "2 April" and He has just become the first Argentine to be among the top 10 teachers in the world in the five editions won. As in previous years, the laurel delivers a million dollars to its laureate and will be released in Dubai on March 24th.

The selection criteria are varied: the teacher uses effective and reproducible teaching methods in other parts of the world, who respond to the challenges of the community and have achieved results. demonstrable in clbad. And Martín meets each of these requirements. Lead various extracurricular projects: created a school radio eighteen years ago, the only one in the authorized urban areas in the country; He is also working with his students to build motorcycles to eliminate blood traction in Lomas de Zamora.

His days begin at 7 pm and end at 10 pm They begin in the municipality, where he was summoned as a result of the motorcycle project. They continue their studies at the technical school and end up leading adult courses. Over the years, various foundations and organizations have recognized their work and even their programs have reached other schools. Today, he must be part of a select group of teachers in the world.

-We can say that he is one of the top ten teachers in the world. Do you feel that way?

-I feel that I am a very good teacher, a teacher engaged in education. The nomination has arrived and she touches the sky with your hands. I think there are more teachers in Argentina who are equal to or better than me. What's missing, is more visibility of the daily work than they do.

-Lead several extracurricular projects. Is there a key? In the extended day?

-No doubts. Developing projects in the school allows you to have another contact with the student, to get closer and to know his reality. This allows you to transmit knowledge in another way and undoubtedly leads to better results.

– This design goes against the idea of ​​"taxi" teachers, who work in different schools, and occurs in most high schools in the country.

-The structure of education must be completely changed. Not only taxi teachers. Boys can not get bored at school. They can not waste time. Teachers work every day and are committed to ensuring that education in Argentina does not progress. The day "taxi" is one of the things to review. One of many things.

-It's been in the same school for 25 years, has the role of the teacher changed?

–The role of the teacher is fundamental, but the horizon is the boy. The teacher does not have to be the protagonist. The role of the teacher changed, but did not grow. We still have teachers who give a master clbad and leave the boy, who dictates for two hours and thinks that it is an absolute knowledge. This can not happen today. We have guys going 200 miles an hour before moving 60 kilometers. They have other ways of incorporating knowledge, information. So when they arrive at school, they get bored. If you do not work on projects, something that can be translated, it does not work.

-Your work has always been at the technical school. Do you think that more technical education is needed in the country?

The technical education is beautiful. The pope graduated from a technical school and you wonder: how did he become a student pope in a technical school? This opens the head. As you learn, you do. A boy with a technical background will be closer to the world of work. You can create something with your own hands. The technician is ready to solve and if he does not succeed, he will search for them.

-The communication and the technical school seem to go in different ways, but you decided to join them. Why did you get the radio?

-In 2001, with the management team, we thought that there was a lack of communication in the school. When we presented the radio project, the former teachers of the technical school said: what are you going to do here ?! Here is the welding, we give it with the hammer! Today, we sit down and realize that we were not wrong. One of the boy's rights is to communicate and to say what he feels.

-In addition to communication and technical knowledge, what abilities should a child leave school?

– A child at school must know that there are people to exchange with. And do it with a lot of responsibility. We train technicians in automobiles, electromechanics or electronics, but this citizen can then open a clinic or become a musician. The school must give the value of responsibility and commitment.

-In their school, they work mainly with vulnerable children. How do we reduce the existing educational gap in the country, so that those who come from the lower sectors learn as much as those who come from higher levels?

-Our school has a population of 1,600 students from all over the country. I do not know if they are vulnerable boys or not. For me, boys are all the same, otherwise I would stigmatize them.

-But do not we have to provide special support to children who need it?

Of course, but the school must work with everyone. Do you pay more attention? Yes of course. You spend more time with the boy who needs it the most. The school should be the tool for other actors in society to work with vulnerable children as well. It's a commitment that we all must badume.

– To what extent can public schools reduce this gap?

-The public school is far from reducing this gap. We miss a lot of things. We lack infrastructure, we keep abad of technological advances. I believe that the public school has the best teachers. He has better than private school. I represent all public school teachers who sacrifice themselves every day. We lack training, but effective training, to evaluate whether they served or not.

-C is a strong argument today in the country. Are you in favor of evaluating teachers?

-I agree because the teacher is also evaluating boys. We must first know what we are going to evaluate. At what point, for example, we do not train the teacher to use the winch. It can not be evaluated without this previous step. The teacher is self-taught and he looks for them very well.

Despite their efforts, teaching in Argentina does not have the social prestige it deserves. What do you attribute to it?

-The prestige teaching is depreciated because it always shows the unemployed or shows a case of violence in the school. The problem is with ourselves. the radio was good? What did he achieve? We will evaluate it to see if we can reproduce it and even improve it. Let's put the state function on the projects that worked. In 18 years, no one has evaluated radio. Only the badessment we make, that is daily. We locked ourselves up, fought and quarreled, but we opened the door and continued to work.

– If I could take a first step to improve education in Argentina, where would I start?

–That leaders have more relationships with teachers in schools, that they know what is going on. If decisions go from top to bottom and do not know what's going on below, it's very difficult to go forward. This also affects the whole society, which must be compromised. We change education among all. Otherwise, we will not change it.