The activity was organized by the “Student Attraction, Retention and Accompaniment” subunit of the Integrated Management of Pedagogies Unit (UGIP).

 “University for a day” is the name of the day in which nearly fifty third and fourth year high school students participated, who had the opportunity to get to know the world of higher education for a day. The purpose of the event was to reinforce interest in studying a pedagogy degree at the University of La Serena.

“The objective was to bring high school students together and make them participate in a university day. Therefore, we try to replicate what a student teacher does during their real academic year. "For the first time it was done, it was a fairly successful experience, and the students left very satisfied," explained Professor Diego Contreras, who is in charge of the "Student Attraction, Retention and Accompaniment" subunit of the UGIP. .

In the first instance, the schoolchildren attended the talk “Challenges for educating in the knowledge society” given by the UGIP researcher, Dr. Rodrigo Ruay, in which he referred to the role of education and the teacher in today's society. . Subsequently, each student participated in a class of the pedagogy degree of interest and a reflective workshop where Professor Diego Contreras explained to them about the study plans, graduation profiles and the main changes that will come with the implementation of the curricular renewal during the current year.

For student Arelys Muñoz, who was part of the first generation of the “I Want to Be a Professional in Education” program, the experience helped her “learn more about the English Pedagogy career. They integrated me into the activities carried out in the classes as if I were just another student in the course. Furthermore, the didactics of the class caught my attention, I imagined that they only passed subject after subject, but they played games, activities with each other, asked each other questions, I realized that it is not like a school class. “I would like to continue with the same motivation of being able to teach and study pedagogy, because it is a different and close way to reach children, to make them change their vision and motivate them to do something else beyond the ordinary,” she noted.

A similar opinion was had by the graduate of San José School, Michelle Roco, who wants to study PED. in Differential Education. “I was quite surprised by this initiative, because I had a lot of fun, everyone was very kind to us, because both the first-year students and the teachers showed us what they experience daily. I was able to observe the attitude of the teachers, who are very close and made us feel very comfortable. As a future educator, I am very inspired by the fact that teachers are, in some way, the eyes of the students, they are the ones who can show that we are capable despite our difficulties, and that there are no limits to what we want to do. It was an excellent experience, because I met colleagues who had the same doubts, and we were able to confirm what we really want to be, future teachers,” she said.

On the other hand, the student of the Gabriela Mistral school, Montserrat Alfaro, participated in the classes organized by Ped's career. in Mathematics and Physics. “The class was super practical, it was done in a laboratory and it was very didactic. I learned a lot and it was very entertaining. Since there are few students in this program, I realized that they are close with everyone in the institution, not only with their classmates or teachers, but with all the staff who worked here. I feel that this profession is not highly valued by people, even though pedagogies are a fundamental basis for training teachers who will teach classes in other careers. We all need someone to teach us, but mainly to educate us with values, and that is why I want to study pedagogy, to be an agent of change and to be someone who can educate,” she emphasized.

In this way, the participating students were able to clarify their vocational doubts, through the experiential experience they had during the different activities carried out during the day, which is expected to be replicated in the coming years.

Source: Integrated Pedagogy Management Unit (UGIP) – PMI FIP ULS1501 | CM ULS1755