Programs: SAT

What is SAT?

SAT stands for Tutorial Learning System in Spanish. This educational program resulted from the efforts made by the Foundation for the Application and Teaching of the Sciences (FUNDAEC) when it decided to take on, more than three decades ago, the search for more dignified ways of life for the mass of people living in rural areas of Colombia. At the time of its inception there were few rural educational programs and those that existed didn't meet the expectations of the people. Curricular designs were generally targeted for individuals in urban areas, their content was fragmented, and, by developing those skills useful in urban areas, led to an increase in the rate of urbanization.

SAT student writing a story.

Although SAT was created as a result of deep analysis on the educational questions facing Latin America, its benefits are currently renowned around the world as solutions that contribute to the betterment of the level of education and overall condition of many countries. SAT is gradually being adopted by official institutions and NGOs who have decided to further rural community development using education across various regions of Colombia, other Latin American countries, and in Africa.

The principles of rural education that follow are the result of a series of consultative meetings between FUNDAEC and relevant institutions regarding three fundamental concepts: the nature of man, education, and development.

• A global vision of development cannot ignore the value of formal education. The challenge lies in ensuring that formal education be meaningful and relevant to the needs of the rural population, help develop plans, and create opportunities.
• The search for a valid system of rural education implies a change in the fundamental relationships between its components: time, students, educators, and community.
• The relationship between students and educators is one of coworkers working towards a very important enterprise: the development of a village.
Students of the SAT program observing their Yucca plants.
• The methods employed have the purpose of provoking the asking of questions and the seeking of relevant answers in a consultative environment between tutors and students.
• The principle of participation regulates educational activities. The role of the tutor is to guide the student in exploring knowledge.
• Integration is understood as a process that fuses relevant pieces of knowledge together with the aim of promoting the underlying social purpose towards which the program aspires.
• The units of study present a pattern of ideas, attitudes, and behaviors that must accompany the activities of investigation-action-learning along the path of service.
• Spirituality must be integrated into each educational activity. Each action must be the context in which spiritual principles are better understood.

SAT in Honduras

The Tutorial Learning System (SAT) was introduced to Honduras initially by CADERH in 1987. Notwithstanding the brief experience gathered by CADERH in the area of Güinope, Francisco Morazán, it generated learning and hope among the receptive communities and above all, the educational community in Honduras which had the chance to know about the experience.

SAT arrived to the Northeast of Honduras in 1996 through the initiative of the Socio-economic Indigenous Development Association, Bayán Association, which, recognizing the potential of the program demonstrated in Güinope, took on the challenge to continue the process of attaining governmental approval and eventually establishing the SAT program in Honduras; thereby extending its coverage and

SAT is an education program, approved by the Ministry of Education via permanent, national level agreements: Agreement #1151-SE-02 on the 19th of March, 2002 and Agreement #4596-SE-02 on the 10th of December, 2002.

Furthermore, SAT is one of the few secondary educational programs that has an agreement (#1117-159-2003) with the Counsel for Higher Education. The agreement authorizes admission to SAT graduates into any national, higher-education institutions (i.e. colleges and universities).

In order to implement SAT in Honduras, Bayán Association has signed an agreement with FUNDAEC which describes the responsibilities belonging to each institutions as co-participants in a process of