The educational goals of Latin America and the Caribbean at the dawn of the twenty-first century: a study from the national laws of education

Abstract

The paper describes the findings of study aimed at identifying the goals of Latin American and Caribbean education in the early years of the 21st century. The use of the comparative method, on which this study was based, supported by other methods of the theoretical level, such as analysis-synthesis, induction-deduction, and documentary analysis made possible the fulfillment of the pursued objective. The main sources of information were documents related to educational legislation in 16 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, promulgated or updated between 1991 and 2016. The findings lead to conclude that the education goals of Latin America and the Caribbean are expressed from two general perspectives: 1) as the "expectations that educating individuals must turn into reality as personal development (hominization), a coherent relationship with the human social environment in which it develops (socialization), and the development of its capacity to create culture and to live within a cultural environment and; b) as "strategic contributions that education must do "to contribute to the improvement of society, in a specific socio-historical context. Accordingly, it became evident that education attempts to achieve a larger pertinence in facing current challenges in the context of a globalized world.