Our history
Some milestones to highlight:
The authors of the Escuela Nueva model discovered that FEN promotes quality education through ENA. FEN adapts its strategies and elements to urban populations and new contexts and continues to innovate and promote its expansion at a national and international level.
With the support of the Inter-American Foundation (IAF), the FEN team designed and adapted Escuela Nueva’s strategies and materials to urban environments. The program was named Urban Active School and is a pilot project initiated in several cities in Colombia.
EN goes international supported by organizations like UNICEF, Academy for Educational Development (AED), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Plan International, The World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB).
We designed the Escuela Nueva Learning Circles Program as a strategy to restore the educational service for out of school and displaced children and youth. This adaptation of the Escuela Nueva Activa model -which is based on its core principles and technical and pedagogical framework- responds to the needs and realities of displaced and extremely vulnerable children, luring and retaining them and facilitating their transition to the formal educational system.
Along with the support of the Ministry of Education of Colombia and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and funding from (USAID), we started the implementation of the Escuela Nueva Learning Circles program in the municipality of Soacha (Colombia).
In the academic field, FEN has been a pioneer in organizing and hosting International Congresses of Escuelas Nuevas. These events have allowed us to share the progress of ENA in Colombia and other countries, as well as to socialize other educational experiences inspired by the model. The first International Congress of Escuelas Nuevas was held in Armenia, Quindio (Colombia) in 2003, and had the participation of more than 1.000 attendees from 15 countries.
The II International Congress of Escuelas Nuevas took place in the city of Medellin, in Antioquia (Colombia), and was attended by more than 1.500 participants from 18 countries.
These Congresses have also served as a scenario to share the developments of ENA´s adaptations to new contexts and in highly vulnerable populations, and to make explicit how it promotes and develops XXIst century skills.
FEN offered technical assistance to the governments of Vietnam and Mexico to initiate ENA pilots in these countries. Since our inception, we have promoted and led the internationalization of the model in several countries.
International projects have included countries like Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, India, England, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic, East Timor, Zambia, and Vietnam.
FEN launched its ENA Learning Guides collection for secondary education.
We launched a collection of Elementary Basic Learning Guides for the Escuela Activa Urbana program, which includes basic areas and contents of Technology, Ethics and Human Values.
FEN started the implementation of ENA in Zambia (Africa), in partnership with the international non-profit organization CAMFED.
Earlier this year, Renueva -FEN´s virtual campus- was reactivated to strengthen interactions of the community of practice related to the work done for each one of the projects and for knowledge generation.
FEN strengthens its presence in various departments of the country and adapts its materials to the Basic Learning Rights of the MEN.
FEN signed a partnership agreement with the Ministry of Education to implement ENA in 73 municipalities of the country, reaching more than 4.600 teachers and 78.000 students from K-9th
The III International Congress of Escuelas Nuevas, was held in Bogota bringing together an educational community of more than 1,200 participants from 18 countries.
FEN celebrates 30 years of work and launches the book “© History of the New School in Colombia”.
FEN begins, in alliance with the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the implementation of the Escuela Nueva Activa model in 8 Normal Schools. The initiative seeks to improve the quality of education in 23 rural municipalities of four departments of Colombia
FEN signs and develops cooperation agreements with Ecopetrol S.A. to improve the quality of education in 14 municipalities in 5 departments of Colombia, through the integral implementation of the Escuela Nueva Activa model. About 11 thousand students benefit from the initiative.
With the financial support of UNICEF Colombia, FEN develops the ENA Learning Circles program to reestablish the educational service of migrant girls, boys, and young from Venezuela and the recipient communities in a vulnerable situation. The program serves 1,200 students in 6 cities: Bogota, Barranquilla, Arauca, Cucuta, Riohacha, and Fonseca).
FEN signs an agreement with the Ministry of National Education for the provision of pedagogical material and the training in the pedagogical use of ENA materials. The project covers schools located in dispersed rural areas covered by the Development Plan with a Territorial Approach (PDET). Almost 10,047 children and 650 teachers from 202 municipalities in Turbo and Apartado are covered.
In agreement with the MEN, FEN develops three virtual training processes in strategies of the Escuela Nueva Activa (ENA) model, adapted to the context of work at home and/or in the classroom. The courses are carried out through Renueva and reach elementary school teachers from multigrade schools of targeted municipalities. The training processes cover 1,780 teachers (1,000 in 2020, and 780 in 2021) and include a second phase of strengthening and deepening in ENA, in which 420 teachers who obtain outstanding performance in the initial courses participate.
Educar en Equidad is a socio-emotional education program aimed at girls and boys between the ages of 3 and 5, based on the global initiative of the English organization Think Equal. In 2021 FEN adapts and leads its implementation in 181 Community Homes in five departments of Colombia. In 2022, the program is recognized by the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF) as one of the ten best pedagogical experiences that transform early childhood in the country.
The good results of the ENA Learning Circles (CAENA) program in six Colombian cities, motivated UNICEF Mexico to implement a similar pilot program in Puebla, Ciudad Juarez, and Tijuana. That is how this first international experience of the CAENA program started in October 2021, serving nearly 90 children from different countries (mainly from Central America and border regions of Mexico).
In agreement with the MEN, we open three lines of work that benefit about 550 primary school teachers from ten departments in Colombia. The first one is a virtual training course in ENA model strategies, the second one is an in-situ training process in ENA tools, and the third one is an in-deep ENA course that combines virtual and in-situ activities and focuses on promoting and strengthening territorial communities of knowledge and practice.