The Cuban educational system in transition: Is it still an alternative for the Global South?

This thesis explores some of the recent changes in the Cuban educational system in the postFidel period, in particular those related to the teacher profession. Among the countries of Latin America, Cuba shows the best performance in education as per UNESCO (2009). In the 1990s, Cuba entered a period of change and transition followed by the collapse of the USSR, its closest international partner. This transition has largely been driven by globalization through tourism, neoliberal policies, double currency, technology, etc. It has been argued in the literature that these changes have made the teachers and the educational system vulnerable. I take these claims as a starting point and further explore how the changes in the Cuban society have affected teachers and the Cuban educational system as a whole in the post-Fidel period. Through the global architecture of education theoretical framework, I explore the current features of the Cuban educational system. Further, through the concept of transition I discuss the implications of the most recent changes in the status of the teacher profession. I argue, among other things, that throughout the post-Fidel transition there has been a higher exposure to Western values, for instance, as a result of internetization. Western values seem to come in conflict with the Cuban anti-imperialistic and anti-capitalistic ideologies traditionally embedded in the educational system. The discrepancy already existing between what is taught at school by teachers and what is out there in the reality increases. This puts teachers whose task is to drive this ideological education in a challenging position. Nevertheless, it seems that the Cuban educational system keeps being rather deviant from the features embedded in the global architecture of education; starting from its state-generated social capital, which does not reproduce the status quo and relieves the school system from its classist nature. At the same time, new and old factors such as spreading of internet and tourism are having more impact in the island and Cuba is challenged to reach a compromise with these factors in order to not sacrifice its educational principles and successes. One of my key findings is that it appears that teachers’ economic condition largely affect their position since their condition often leads them to turn into the illegal or gray area. The data was gathered during my fieldwork, through a qualitative-focused ethnographic research, where I conducted informal interviews with teachers and “knowledgeable people” about the teacher profession