Motivated by a deep commitment to the generation of more just and humane

societies from education, I have been building a professional career that is nourished
by research on public policies and the evaluation of educational programs in the best
university in Peru and the most influential "think tank" in the country; the
development of public policies, teacher training programs and the National Curriculum
of Basic Education from the headquarters of the Ministry of Education of Peru; and
direct work with directors, teachers and students in public and private schools at the
national level. This transition has forged my vocation and in me the certainty that,
although the improvement of educational results implies reforms in the system, the
viability of any transformation process is also played out in schools, in classrooms and
in the quality of the relationships that are established between its actors, being of vital
importance in this process the stage of early childhood.
The current globalized society and knowledge requires rethinking the role of
educational systems and the paradigm from which the school and its actors interpret
and face this reality. More specifically, it demands a new type of citizen: with open-
mindedness, willingness to accept novelty and adapt to relentless change, flexibility to
meet others in diversity, and ability to build community in intercultural settings. This
context of urgency is my motivation to continue promoting a transition towards
teaching-learning processes that recognize and value the existing diversity, in which
students are recognized as protagonists of their own learning processes in active and
interactive contexts, within the framework of educational projects guided by curricula
that generate the conditions for the implementation of the knowledge and skills that
demand the present and the future.
With this purpose in mind and heart, I have spent years exploring theoretical and
methodological approaches that offer alternatives to respond to the aforementioned
demands. In this way I discovered the Expressive Arts, a proposal that, in addition to
art and ritual, uses play as a means and end in itself for the development of people,
organizations and communities. These learnings allowed me to reconnect with my
playful essence in the personal and, professionally, introduce play in processes of
accompaniment to children and adolescents, and in the training of teachers and
caregivers for the development of socio-emotional skills and creativity in formal and
non-formal educational spaces. In these processes I reaffirmed the potential of play for
the development of emotional and social intelligence; self-awareness, social
awareness and understanding of reality; the development and implementation of
knowledge and skills; and the incentive of curiosity, active engagement and creativity.
In this line, PETaL EMJMD will allow me to expand my understanding of early
childhood education, a fundamental stage for human and cultural development, the
discovery of new theoretical approaches and tools to manage diversity in schools, and
the acquisition of knowledge around play as a pedagogical resource, which I consider
represent a great contribution to the development of new methodologies and projects
in different areas: schools, educational programs, curriculum design and educational
policies.