In a context in which projections show a serious deficit of nearly 7,000 female early childhood educators by 2025, a new version of this award known as the "Nobel Prize for Teaching" was launched and, for the first time, a special space was included to recognize the role of early childhood professionals.
According to a study conducted by Elige Educar and Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, projections for the number of kindergarten educators for the coming years show a serious deficit. It is estimated that by 2025 there will be a shortage of around 7,000 professionals in Chile's kindergarten and school classrooms.
In this context, a new version of the Global Teacher Prize Chile 2024 was launched, the "Nobel Prize for Teaching", which for the first time includes a special category to recognize the value of kindergarten education. This, thanks to the collaboration between Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, Fundación Ya and Elige Educar.
Regarding this fact, the Undersecretary of Nursery Education, Claudia Lagos, pointed out that "when we talk about recognizing nursery education, what we are doing is also recognizing the role and importance of children in our society".
"I am very happy and grateful for all the willingness and vision that both Fundación Educacional Oportunidad and the rest of those who make up Elige Educar have had to make kindergarten education visible, to highlight and value the important task that kindergarten educators perform on a permanent basis," added the authority.
For his part, the rector of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Ignacio Sánchez, added that "it was very necessary to have the recognition of early childhood educators covered. It seems to me that the Global Teacher Prize puts on the table the relevance of the discipline in early education. Therefore, we congratulate Elige Educar, and I think it is excellent that the Fundación Educacional Oportunidad collaborates in this initiative. So, from Universidad Católica we are very happy for this new advance".
The president of Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, Ena von Baer, explained that "we made the decision to promote the kindergarten education category in the Global Teacher Prize because we have been working with Chile's educators for 18 years and we know how important they are for the development of Chile's children.
Likewise, the executive director of Elige Educar, Verónica Cabezas, added that "we are happy that this year we have the launch of a new category for early childhood educators, early childhood educators with the support of Fundación Educacional Oportunidad and Fundación Ya. So we thank them for always believing in early childhood educators, their professional work and helping to value this level of education".
It is important to remember that until July 25, the public may invite those early childhood educators who are working in the field of early childhood education to apply for a position.
