2024 Best Practice Prize – Fundación Escuela Nueva

Fundación Escuela Nueva (FEN), based in Colombia, is a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming education by placing learners at the center of the educational process. For over 30 years, FEN has promoted active, collaborative, and personalized learning experiences, particularly for children in rural and underserved communities.

Many education systems continue to face challenges in providing equitable access to quality learning, especially in rural and marginalised contexts where multigrade classrooms, limited resources, and traditional teacher-centered practices are common. These conditions often limit student engagement and contribute to persistent learning gaps.

To address these challenges, FEN developed the Escuela Nueva Activa (ENA) model, which transforms conventional schooling into a more learner-centered approach. The model promotes active participation, cooperation, and personalised learning, and integrates curriculum design, teacher development, community engagement, and school organisation into a coherent system.

FEN places strong emphasis on evidence-informed practice. The organisation systematically collects and analyses data on both academic learning outcomes and socioemotional development, including skills such as collaboration, participation, and peaceful coexistence. This evidence is used to continuously improve implementation and support decision-making across contexts.

Research and evaluations indicate positive associations between ENA implementation and improvements in student learning outcomes and classroom environments, particularly where implementation is consistent and well supported. These findings have contributed to the programme’s adaptation in multiple contexts.

To date, FEN has worked with tens of thousands of educators and reached millions of children through direct implementation and system-wide scaling supported by public education authorities. The model has been adapted across different regions in Latin America and other international contexts, demonstrating its flexibility and potential for broader application.

FEN continues to work closely with education systems to strengthen teaching practices and improve learning environments, with the goal of ensuring that all children, regardless of background, can develop the skills needed to learn and succeed.