RIDEF 2024 in Mexico

Dear colleagues,

RIDEF 2024 is slowly approaching. It will take place in the city of Oaxaca in southern Mexico at the state high school Moisés Sáenz. It is important that you reserve your dates now, because we are already waiting for you. The RIDEF will take place from August 2 to 11, 2024 , as our school calendar ends at the end of July.

Oaxaca has been the epicenter of various social struggles, such as the Oaxaca Commune of 2006 with the People’s Struggle (APPO) alongside the democratic teachers of Section 22, who above all seek emancipation from the colonial practices to which our indigenous peoples were subjected, so that our society remains in a constant practice of resistance.

On the other hand, the city of Oaxaca is a World Heritage Site, also known as “Verde Antequera” due to its magnificent green colonial-style buildings. This city is rich in customs, festivals, music, handicrafts, markets, museums, galleries, urban art, colorful neighborhoods and a high culinary tradition. In Oaxaca, countless cultures from all parts of the state come together. The people here are noble, hardworking and hospitable.

The theme of this RIDEF is: “The emergence of critical thinking and resistance in teacher education”.

You can find the website of this RIDEF here

We see ourselves as Freinet educators. In our classrooms, we provide spaces where children and young people’s thinking can be freely expressed; we organize assemblies where critical thinking is combined with cooperative processes so that students can tackle and solve their problems. We believe that school educates scientific thinking against dogma of all kinds. We value questions more than right answers. We believe in the liberating value of art, of words, of color, of music, of movement. Not to train artists, not to win prizes, but only to enable every child and young person to express themselves freely.

But the question now is: How do we become Freinet educators? How do we educate ourselves? How do we educate others?

We invite you to think about and answer these questions, because we want RIDEF’s workshops and reflection spaces to allow us to share the paths of our education and training and those of the new colleagues who join our movement.

OPEN DAY: TAMAZULAPAM COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Following on from the open day organized in NANTES, RIDEF Oaxaca in Mexico is proposing a day of encounter with the rural teacher training college in Tamazulapam. The focus will be on the project of rural teacher training institutions in constant resistance to neoliberal policies and in the effort to train educators for the people. This day is organized in collaboration with the Federation of Socialist Peasant Students of Mexico (FECSM) to present to the participants of the RIDEF the strategies of self-education they are pursuing, as well as their work program aimed at training teachers who are aware of the reality of life in the peasant villages.

FIRST INTERNATIONAL MEETING OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF RIDEF

During the RIDEF, we will organize an in-person and virtual meeting of children and young people from our country and from other countries to hear their reflections, questions, wishes and recognitions for their teachers and schools.

We want to know what children and young people think about their teachers, classes, schools and virtual classrooms, what is taught and learned at school and what they would like to learn. This will help us to thoroughly rethink our pedagogical tasks; it will allow us to change what harms them and strengthen the measures that make them fully enjoy the school space. Let’s listen to our children and young people: This is the best lesson we can receive.

REAL AND VIRTUAL MEETING AT RIDEF

We have analyzed the richness of the virtual meetings that have taken place since 2019 at the REMFA in Cuernavaca, the FIMEM General Assembly 2020 and the REMFA in Brazil 2021, and we would like to express our willingness to hold mixed meetings (face-to-face and virtual) to encourage the presence of as many members of the movements as possible. In this case, we would explore the possibility of sharing the General Assembly, the meeting of children and young people, the visit to the Pedagogical University, some conferences, some long workshops, as well as the intercultural events via the internet.

We look forward to sharing our educational practices, our landscapes, our food and our culture with you and welcoming you with open arms, as we did in 2008.

So, get ready for Oaxaca 2024, we look forward to seeing you there!

Translation: www.deepl.com & Andi Honegger