Relación de los centros educativos de enseñanza secundaria con el entorno en Iberoamérica

This contribution contains the views of 46 specialists from thirteen Latin American countries on the ways of understanding and promoting the relationship between educational centres and their environment. Located in secondary education (and in the age range of 15 to 18 years), it aims to define the way in which the internal and external life of the educational centre is connected, presenting the models that are used, the intervention strategies and the most significant experiences in each of the countries. The contributions do not seek so much to review the link between educational centres as to fundamentally analyse the links with the community and the organisations that host them (associations, companies, significant governmental or non-governmental organisations, etc.). In this regard, part of the writings collect experiences and strategies that specify the relationship that we study. We hope that it will thus be a support for scholars of the subject, but also provide content that helps managers to improve their management of external relations. The orientation of the writings towards organisational analysis and the role of managers as promoters of the relationship with the community is related to the aims and objectives of RedAGE; also to the conviction of those who write that the organisation made of the context of intervention and the performance of managers is fundamental to obtain and maintain the most suitable responses to the demands of the socio-cultural-economic environment. Its realisation is linked to the meeting of RedAGE specialists held in March 2013 in La Paz. There, the representatives of the member organisations presented and discussed, during the meeting, documents on the subject of the link between school and environment, in their respective countries, which constitute the basis on which the final contributions collected in this text have been made. Thus, a fundamental purpose of Red AGE is covered again, which is to promote the exchange of experiences, the promotion of knowledge on administration and educational management and reflection on the practice of management. The ultimate goal is to improve the functioning of educational centres (and, through them, of educational systems), ensuring that they are of quality and an instrument for professional and social change.