Teachers as creators of meaning and transdisciplinary connections in their territories

The commitment to caring for nature is a transversal ethical mission that has guided our path. Conveying this message to new generations requires anchoring this perspective within education. In this sense, the role of teachers is key to addressing the socio-ecological crisis and planting possibilities for the future. As a foundation, we have made various efforts in this direction through the Docente Activo program, which creates co-learning experiences and methodologies to nurture a network of educators capable of facing socio-environmental challenges with creativity and sensitivity, through the intersection of art and ecology.

Thus, this initiative—whose current call is open until January 16, 2026—has sought to develop connections that unite multiple forms of knowledge. Through experiences that have explored concepts such as resilience, regeneration, and interdependence, among others, these efforts have activated a social network composed of educators from diverse fields and locations.

The program’s territorial focus in recent years has been in La Araucanía, home to our protected area Bosque Pehuén, a natural laboratory that participants have had the opportunity to explore as part of a series of field visits and activations that foster collaborative spaces for care and well-being. This is part of a three-day in-person meeting that culminates when the ten pairs accepted into the program each year develop a project related to their own socio-ecological challenge, a process supported by FMA throughout the year.

Sharing experiences with educators attuned to biodiversity conservation, determined to transform their heterogeneous contexts, has been deeply inspiring for our foundation. We have witnessed how these change agents have expanded their strategies to create solutions based on sensitive and empathetic pedagogies, addressing issues such as water scarcity, wetland pollution, biodiversity loss, soil erosion, and disconnection from ancestral knowledge, particularly regarding Mapuche cosmology, among others.

The notion of the watershed has been a unifying framework in addressing territorial challenges, through scientific and sensory experimentation and artistic exercises, using tools such as mapping, oral storytelling dynamics, and dialogues led and facilitated by our learning team. Collaboration with the art department, as well as guided activities from FMA’s conservation area, has been crucial in these processes. The experiences that make up this encounter, enriched by the diverse expertise of the FMA team, are infused with knowledge and skills designed to stimulate and experience transdisciplinarity.

Early seeds and the formation of a support network

The program’s origins date back to 2012, when winners of Fundación Colorearte’s competition—which reaches hundreds of schools to create and experience art and education—were invited to the Puerto de Ideas festival. In 2017, facilitators from the Creation Centers (Cecrea) were invited, and participation in initiatives such as the International Congress on Marine Protected Areas (IMPAC-4) was coordinated; it was then that the program was formally named. In 2018, a notable milestone occurred with an exhibition by renowned artist Theo Jansen, which inspired dozens of educators participating in the program.

These early interactions allowed us to understand diverse realities, which, both inside and outside the classroom, are always complex. Later, we continued to deepen our engagement with the educational context, addressing issues such as rising teacher attrition, which poses a risk of shortage in the country, particularly in rural, subsidized, or high-vulnerability schools. This situation challenges the goal of achieving inclusive, equitable, and quality education, a global concern as noted by UNESCO. In this challenging scenario, we sought to contribute by creating spaces for well-being and care for educators in nature and through collaborative art experiences.

During the pandemic, we adapted to virtual conditions, hosting a meeting featuring a series of researchers who shared approaches and methodologies from science, art, and the humanities. This led to the publication Con/vivir: Art and Ecology in Education, which “from a holistic perspective, addresses the interconnection of the ecosystems of which we are part and the inseparable complementarity between nature, culture, and territory.”

Following this virtual experience, in 2023 we returned to in-person gatherings in La Araucanía, initially inviting pairs from Pucón, Villarrica, and Curarrehue, expanding from 2025 to 12 municipalities from the mountains to the sea. Along with specific program themes introduced each year, there has been a strong emphasis on guidance and well-being, aiming to connect cognitive, sensory, and affective dimensions in learning processes.

Although we recognize that this space cannot solve structural problems that require multiple voices and actors, from our position we have sought to convey the inspiration found in nature, providing a meeting point among peers, sharing methodologies, and offering a welcoming environment in recognition of the challenging work they carry out.

According to participants’ feedback collected after project completion, Docente Activo has sparked inspiration and rekindled their dedication to teaching, allowing them to create networks and discover new methodologies. Through mutual exchange and enrichment of pedagogical practices, they have collaboratively developed creative solutions to common problems.

For FMA, listening to the voices of those shaping future generations has been vital, fostering a sense of belonging that renews hope in their roles. Participants describe feeling “well-supported” and part of a “collaborative network” that “provides the confidence needed to implement ideas,” through activities that promote “care and enjoyment.”

This expanding support network has recently experienced milestones such as the 2025 exhibition Knowing the Landscape with Your Hands, showcasing works and processes led by teachers and their communities, including a textile map of medicinal plants, fanzines exploring identity, and a documentary tracing the Toltén watershed. Held at the Centro Cultural Liquen in Villarrica, the exhibition highlighted significant records, creations, and processes by teachers and students in La Araucanía, derived from transdisciplinary explorations fostered by the program.

During the exhibition, we organized a discussion titled Sensitive Pedagogies to Create from the Territory, where participants shared their creative processes and exchanged ideas with other educators on teaching-learning approaches rooted in their territories. They emphasized co-learning through questions they developed themselves, such as: How can we transform the educational experience into a learning laboratory? How can we promote biocultural education for diversity and heterogeneity?

Both the exhibition and discussion engaged communities and territorial actors from diverse educational contexts connected to pedagogical exploration in nature. One of the program’s ongoing challenges is reaching those who may not yet recognize the need to cultivate new ways of being and acting through ecological sensitivity. We also see a strong need to move beyond classrooms into the territories to leverage the biocultural characteristics of the environments they inhabit, as well as the importance of continuing to use the watershed concept as a situated framework to explore interdependence.

Methodologies, interculturality, and knowledge exchange

As a foundation, we remain attentive to the biodiverse ecosystems we inhabit, perceiving flows and transformations. Aware of the limitations imposed by time and scale, we strive to understand how nature expands knowledge, guides, cares for, and connects multiple ways of being in the world.

Through exploring ancestral knowledge, new ways of doing, multiple languages, and ways of thinking-feeling with nature, we aim to constantly manifest the interdependence inherent in all natural cycles and educational processes. We seek to encourage different rhythms and perspectives, mindful of the demands of a globalized world and ensuring experiences from our program can be incorporated into work plans and adapted to school curricula.

In a complex region such as La Araucanía, where socio-natural disasters such as floods and fires coexist, and multiple sociocultural realities are shaped by the presence of the Mapuche people, we face the challenge of co-designing flexible, participatory methodologies. These must allow for pauses to know, recognize, and dialogue from each participant’s position, fostering coexistence in and with nature.

Experiences in the region bring us close to interculturality and the search for shared meanings that recognize differences, encountering biodiverse knowledge. The expressed worldviews highlight the value of each life cycle, creating exchange spaces where conceptual boundaries blur through sensations, beliefs, and perceptions that often go beyond discipline-specific languages.

Participants’ local contexts are valued in co-creating experiences that allow adaptation and movement, crucial for integrating methodologies into systemic structures of educational spaces with rigid routines and schedules.

Docente Activo becomes a disruptive pause for thinking and creating, aligning with collaborative art methodologies and observations inspired by naturalists’ curiosity. This allows engagement with different rhythms, highlighting the importance of art and science in children’s lives over the long term.

While we acknowledge cross-cutting challenges beyond individual schools, such as regional poverty rates, chronic screen exposure, and hyperconnectivity affecting socio-emotional development and disconnection from ancestral family knowledge, these do not prevent us from opening possibilities and emphasizing nature-based education. We also explore ways to bring nature into classrooms, where art becomes an essential tool for moving from theory to practice through ecological observation.

Ultimately, Docente Activo is a commitment to being present through the body and the territories we traverse, connecting our work with communities that also enrich our ways of doing and learning. Over more than a decade, we have exercised openness to change and uncertainty, attentive to cycles of trial and error, and the need to strengthen and adapt our support, centering educators and their communities as protagonists.

We are privileged to offer this program, providing our best effort to teachers and students, weaving intersecting knowledge nourished by situated co-learning. This distinguishes us as a socio-ecological education program, going beyond mere artistic or scientific documentation, emphasizing pedagogical knowledge generated by teachers in their practice.

While the program primarily impacts educators, the bridges they build extend beyond schools, often involving families as part of this social fabric we seek to care for and nurture.

What is an active teacher?

Reflecting on shared values over the years, we observe a common ethic: a continuous pursuit of resources for professional growth, a permanent commitment to students, and a constant revitalization of vocation. Visiting educational communities, we see teachers involving multiple stakeholders in projects, inspiring colleagues to participate, integrating other subjects, and often engaging the wider school community. Throughout the program, participants have grown and expanded their possibilities, deepening their connection to nature and gaining confidence to implement ideas.

Despite time constraints and task overload, sense-making occurs in every class and moment. Maintaining active hope in education’s role to protect biodiversity is a collective effort, with learning in and with nature at the center, where art and ecology operate as collaborative, transdisciplinary knowledge in dialogue with territories.

Docente Activo not only fosters connection with surroundings and communities but also confronts humanity’s challenges: a deep disconnection from ecosystems, prompting reconnection with meaning and authentic relationships.

We are inspired by how these experiences have been integrated in dialogue with diverse educational actors. The motivation of each participant in this network, fostering spaces for pause, dialogue, and deep listening, reflects respect for biodiversity in coexistence with animals, plants, and fungi. We will continue linking these experiences in nature with classroom realities to transform ideas into concrete actions. We are grateful for the dedication of every agent of protection, reflection, and creativity who aligns with the intersection of artistic, scientific, and territorial knowledge to build more conscious, sustainable, and sensitive futures.

Footnotes:

1. According to Elige Educar, there is a deficit of 26,000 teachers required by 2025, representing about 19% of the teaching workforce.
2. Díaz Sacco, A., López González, D., Salas Aguayo, M., & Carrasco Ogaz, D. (2021). Movilidad de profesores chilenos: Influencia de variables demográficas, características del establecimiento escolar y condiciones laborales. Perfiles Educativos, 43(172). https://doi.org/10.22201/iisue.24486167e.2021.172.59514
3. Carahue, Curarrehue, Freire, Nueva Imperial, Padre Las Casas, Pitrufquén, Pucón, Saavedra, Temuco, Teodoro Schmidt, Toltén, and Villarrica.
4. Reconectar para regenerar (2023); Resiliencia (2024); Interdependencia (2025); and for 2026, the theme Temperatures of the Landscape.
5. Participant surveys applied post-project.
6. According to the CASEN 2022 survey, La Araucanía has an 11.6% monetary poverty rate, above the national average of 6.5%.