Escuelas locales

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There are many schools, both public and private, within a thirty minute drive of La Paz Community School. Some of the larger, more established schools include Costa Rica International School (CRIA) in Brasilito, Educarte, Journeys and Flourish in Tamarindo......and these are only those I have become familiar with during my short stay in Guanacaste.  

These private schools share early learning classrooms which seem to be rooted around Reggio Emilia pedagogies. Elementary, middle and high school classrooms are designed around international dual language models which center project-based learning. Some schools include an international baccalaureate program in the secondary grades. 

      Educarte, Tamarindo                                                CRIA, Brasilito

Each town has its own escuela, comprised of a few small buildings, which can be educate children in grades kindergarten through 12.

Escuela in Playa Grande

Escuela in Brasilito

The richness of traveling abroad is to experience new cultures, new ways of living and being by observing education in practice in contexts outside of our own in the United States.  Though schools are in abundance in northern part of Guanacaste - and seem to be a huge factor in why expats choose to live in this area, specifically - the way schools are designed vary considerably, in both pedagogy and practice. 

Educational leaders are guided by international guidelines, Costa Rican-specific standards from the Ministry of Education, and the needs of the communities they serve. Teachers engage in such spaces differently than you may have experienced through your fieldwork, based upon school mission, curricular design, purpose and characteristics of the students. It is my hope that SCSU students who participate in La Paz's Visitor Education program take time to observe, not evaluate, and appreciate the ways in which other cultures "do school."  You will return to SCSU enriched. I am confident you will impart the diversity of your learnings to your future students, in whatever contexts you find yourself teaching.




Location: Guanacaste Province, Brasilito, Costa Rica

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