Formative links between agricultural and livestock secondary schools in the Province of Buenos Aires and the National University of La Plata as a source of knowledge for the school agroindustries in the local area

Abstract

Nowadays it is essential to achieve safety in consumed foods. Therefore, we designed and offered training courses aimed at the promotion of the implementation of quality assurance systems in the industry rooms of these schools, which teachers and students of the Agricultural Education School of the Province of Buenos Aires attended. Considering that agricultural and livestock secondary schools are valuable agents, not only because of their role in the training of future technicians in agriculture and livestock, but also because of their proximity to the needs of the area in relation to the agro-industry, we included activities aimed at increasing knowledge in the local area. The chosen methodology for the teaching-learning process was that of workshop, since it proves to be appropriate to achieve the internalization of dynamics aimed at the building of Standardized Operative Procedures and of the aspects which structure them. This paper seeks to describe and assess the teachinglearning process, to acknowledge the institutional constraints which determine the degree of the learned material in the school agro-industries, and to refer to the instances of increase of knowledge in the local area. Thanks to these training interventions it was possible not only to establish a collegial learning in the school settings but also to determine which are the structural and organizational limits which constrain the implementation of the quality assurance systems in the didactic agro-industries. Moreover, we promoted the interaction between the agricultural and livestock secondary schools, and the local productive sector and the university setting.