Perceptions and Beliefs of Rural High School Coordinators in Costa Rica

Abstract

Costa Rican rural settings include indigenous populations and groups in scattered areas that require considering issues such as language and culture, among others, to achieve an appropriate curriculum development. The National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC) defines rurality based on the existence or lack of public services such as roads, communication, utilities, formation of the household, and participation in agricultural activities, among others. This research seeks to interpret the perceptions and beliefs of rural high school principals in Costa Rica, regarding technical and administrative conditions in compliance with the objectives for which the institutions were created. This is a longitudinal qualitative study, since data was taken from two workshops, one in 2010 with 49 rural high school coordinators and another one in 2012 with 205 participants including principals and teaching staff. Information was analyzed using an open-question questionnaire and a Venn diagram. Seventeen rural high schools were visited, and students, teachers, and parents from 45 rural high schools were interviewed during 2011 and 2012. It is concluded that there is still no real integration between the socio productive, personal and social areas with the academic area; therefore, teachers in the academic area should be trained in vocational aspects such as entrepreneurship, cooperativism, business management, as well as counsoling, physical education, arts, and music to trully meet the objectives for which rural high schools were created.