On Saturday, April 15, the School of Education, together with the Varkey Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation, held the International Congress for the Development of Virtues at the IAE Business School of the Universidad Austral.

More than 300 educators and speakers from Latin America attended, focusing on a central theme of education: virtue training and character building for students.

Julián Rodríguez, Rector of the Universidad Austral Agustín Porres, Regional Director for Latin America of the Varkey Foundation, welcomed an auditorium full of directors and teachers from different levels of the education system.

Next up, the Chilean orchestra “Sonidos de Luz” (Sounds of Light), led by Cristóbal Rojas Basso, who also presented a research project during the event, and composed of blind musicians, thrilled everyone with their music.

Next, it was the turn to listen to Francisco Moller, a consultant specializing in character development, and Fernando Giménez Zapiola, General Director of the Labardén School.

To conclude the first stage of the Congress in the auditorium, the section “National Experiences: Perspectives from Management” was held, in which Nicolás Zárate Rojas, Minister of Education and Science of Paraguay, and Robert Silva García, President of ANEP of Uruguay, participated.

Once this first block was completed, attendees had the opportunity to choose between 4 rooms where the works on character education that were developed in the context of the character development program funded by the John Templeton Foundation were exhibited :

• Room 1: The challenge of developing civic and performance virtues through teamwork. Presenting teachers: Jhon Alexander Echeverri (Colombia), Katerine Franco Cardenas (Colombia) and Marcela Henríquez (Chile).
• Room 2: Practices and experiences that develop critical thinking and motivation in schools. Presenting teachers: Marcio Batista (Brazil), Dario Greni Olivieri (Uruguay) and Jayse Ferreira (Brazil).
• Room 3: Fostering Perseverance and Resilience in Students. Presenting Teachers: Mariela Guadagnoli (Argentina), Gustavo Calderón de Anda (Mexico), and Sidney Bernal (Colombia)
• Workshop Room: Character Education Laboratory by the Varkey Foundation team. Presenting teachers: Ana Mainardi, Hernán González, Luciana Arnaudo and Natalí Flego (Argentina).

As soon as lunchtime ended, the simultaneous presentations resumed in 4 classrooms:

• Room 1: Encouraging autonomy and democratic participation among students. Presenting teachers: Gisela Gómez (Argentina), Eduardo Esteban León (Colombia), and Cristóbal Basso (Chile).
• Room 2: Practices and experiences that develop motivation, honesty, and citizenship in schools. Presenting teachers: Mario Santibáñez (Chile), Carolina Muñoz (Argentina), and Santos Guillermo Guevara (Peru).
• Room 3: Promoting curiosity and critical thinking in students. Presenting teachers: Diana Rubio Navarro (Mexico), Diego Caiza (Ecuador) and Elisa Guerra (Mexico).
• Room 4: The virtue of leading: a conversation with subnational ministers. Juan Carlos Flores Miramontes (Jalisco, Mexico), Vitor de Angelo (Espíritu Santo, Brazil) and Práxedes Ytatí López (Corrientes, Argentina).

To conclude the Congress, Dr. Santiago Bellomo, Dean of the School of Education of the Universidad Austral, and Agustín Porres, gave the closing and thank you remarks.