Guest lecture on an education model with the Waorani people

The Waorani population was one of the so-called "uncontacted" people of the rainforest in the Amazon region of Ecuador until about 1960. Since the first encounters, especially with missionaries and oil companies, their ways of life have changed drastically in a short time. Consequently, the transfer of knowledge - that is, the way in which knowledge and customs were passed on from generation to generation by means of song, orality and common actions - has also been replaced by a sedentary and imposed educational model, which has been adopted by the population with great dissatisfaction and little success. In this context, the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE) proposes the joint development of an educational offer with the community, aiming at a cooperative educational model based on dialogue and respect. In this lecture, the following aspects will be presented and discussed together afterwards:

• Implementation of the formal education model as a space of exclusion of Waorani cultural diversity.
• Evaluation processes that stand in the way of capturing and understanding skills, abilities and learning methods
• Importance of recognising one's own form of knowledge transfer, way of life and cultural identity and incorporating these into learning processes
• Suggestions for cooperative development of didactic material through projects by PUCE students.

Presenters:

• Alexandra Yépez, Associate Dean (AB Psychology), Faculty of Education, PUCE, Quito
• Dinora Hidalgo, Research Associate, (AB Anthropology), Faculty of Human Sciences, PUCE, Quito
• Dr. Fernando Palacios, Research Associate (AB Musicology), Faculty of Education, PUCE, Quito