El nivel educativo de la media técnica en Colombia: Desarrollo histórico y problemas actuales

The present article is the result of a documentary review work complemented by fieldwork on the technical high school education level offered in the country, its history, its development, and some of the problems it currently faces. The level of education in technical high school is a fundamental part of the country's educational system and therefore requires strengthening through policies, actions, and strategies that enable the fulfillment of the objectives set by the General Education Law and that allow for guiding the construction of young people's life projects and vocations, developing their general, labor, and civic competencies, promoting their retention in the system, and preparing them for insertion into the labor market or for the continuation of higher education. On one hand, the lack of economic support and educational policies that favor the development of technical secondary education make this level of education lack relevance, meaning it fails to meet the needs and demands of the productive sector. Not to mention the quality and coverage issues, among others, that also affect the education provided in these institutions. On the other hand, the lack of professionalization and updating of teachers at the technical high school level, in relation to pedagogical competencies and the state's scant interest in renewing teachers at this educational level, exacerbates the problem. Therefore, it is a very important level that deserves to be studied and analyzed, to know its history, development, and to delve into its issues in order to propose alternatives that allow for its qualification and improvement.