The Educators’ Role in the Costa Rican Educational System

Educational systems play a preeminent role all over the world and Costa Rica is not the exception. Our education system defines our society and the way Costa Ricans perceive reality. Therefore, teachers have to deal with many vital functions within the learning process. Assuming that the teaching-learning process is a social task for both present and future times, all of us should not delay our efforts to improve this process. It seems to me that the ultimate purpose of the different components of our educational policies is focused on the intellectual development of the students. Although this may sound illusory, it is a fact that Costa Rican educators have to keep this in mind when teaching. Unfortunately, people in charge of programming and developing aspects such as: number of students by classroom, curricula and methods have to stick on statistics and available budget which causes leaving most of the students and teachers needs unattended. In other words, both students and teachers have just become a number for the system which responds more to international economical policies than to real needs.


The integral transformation of the Costa Rica’s Educational System implies a change of aspects such as: curricula components and educational policies to make better the different students’ profiles expected in a globalized world. Educators are expected to reinvent the teaching techniques as well as what and what for students learn. Doubtless, teachers have an important role as means of change of every single aspect that citizens have to deal with in our society. Unfortunately, educators have to work based on curricula focused on what the companies expect the students to be skillful in. That is why, Costa Rica invests lots of money to support and improve technical education (INA and technical public schools) and academic schools have been left behind by not covering all their money needs. Teachers of English have seen how their job conditions have changed because international companies need bilingual personnel. In order to make better teachers for the coming years, the government has to develop workshops to discuss new didactic techniques, curricula, and evaluation criteria and take into account the observations educators make. We cannot expect that teachers will make relevant changes if they do not have all the tools they need.

The programs to be developed by teachers are too full of contents which not necessarily respond to what pupils want to learn. As a result, both teachers and students work in a heavy atmosphere not good enough to neither teaching nor learning. Another aspect which is against teachers and as a consequence against the learning process is the fact that educators have to deal with tons of paper work and by doing so, they get easily tired, confused and unmotivated. Health problems are part of teachers’ complications as a result of excess of work and not getting enough rest in a system that does care about neither students nor teachers needs. In other words, teachers became more involved in paper work than in teaching.

Long time ago, educators have seen that most of students “don’t learn”, For instance, pupils can memorize o repeat some information, but they will not be able to remember it all their life. For that reason, educators must apply innovative methods to get a proper acquisition of the knowledge in some intellectual and behavior aspect of each student. Educators must not continue teaching by means of strict and routinely pedagogical practice. Therefore, they are obligated as teachers to begin a continuous educational process, taking into consideration new techniques and efficient didactic methods. Thus, all of us will be able to achieve and fortify the teaching-learning process in our classrooms. The Costa Rican Educational System is derived from foreign educational imitations which are not according to physical, mental, academic and cognitive characteristics of our students. Besides, it is originated from mental sub-development of the Politians that are in the government. These situations make difficult to accomplish a strong educational system. It is said, the learning process becomes more artificial, formalist and academic.


The national teaching staff is able to apply a curriculum and build it too. Also, teachers are ready to identify many pedagogic options during their profession. So, they have criteria to select information and become the social necessities in basic necessities of learning. Pedagogues are a significant symbol in the concretization and comprehension in all countries around the whole world. The educator is a scientific, an inverter, a visionary, a knowledgeable of the human behavior, a sower of kindness and he is able to promote peace and happiness. He is a walker with light saddlebag who walks among thirsty hearts of tenderness; his light will become delicious nectar which eradicates the thirstiness and fills that hearts with the sweetest honey.