A new international recognition comes to Bogotá through the Colombian teacher and current director of the Institute for Educational Research and Pedagogical Development (IDEP), Alexander Rubio Álvarez. In 2017 he received the international record for taking the longest yoga class in the world, awarded by Guiness World Records, and his nomination as the best teacher in the world by the Global Teacher Prize. He also received the Global Education Award in 2019.
Now, the International Fair Play award in the 'Wili Daume' category is added to this list. An award created by the International Committee for Fair Play (ICFP), that since 1963 has awarded personalities and organizations around world sports, such as UEFA, and which for the first time is awarded to a Colombian thanks to his promotion of the spirit of fair play.
Through an official communication on October 21, ICFP President Jenő Kamuti personally congratulated the Director “for his extraordinary spirit of fair play” and announced that the award ceremony will take place once the Covid-19 pandemic has been overcome. The Colombian Olympic Committee also released this important announcement for the country, in front of which Rubio expressed "enormous emotion", for being the first Colombian to access this recognition and recognized the importance of fair play as "an attitude for daily life".
“Being winners for the first time of an exercise as beautiful as Fair Play, fills me with great joy, firstly, because I am Colombian, I am a teacher and secondly because it is a recognition of the work that teachers, especially in the physical education area from the perspective of the body, from the subject of the classroom, so it fills me with deep joy. Also, it show that positive side of Colombia ”.
According to the director, fair play is the ability to think collectively that has an impact not only on the personal level, but also with society and the environment. “Every action that we carry out as individuals has an implication in the social fabric, that is, with yourself, with others, with the environment and with the community. Finally, he describes fair play as: I breathe, think and act with love ”.
As the current director of IDEP, a position he has held since January 2020, Rubio Álvarez is advancing a novelty research agenda in innovation with teachers from the city, which seeks to inspire thousands of teachers to become transformers of education and the world. “We have created a support program for researchers and an innovative “Teachers who inspire” program, as well as free research courses, seminars and multiple spaces so that they are encouraged to transform from what they do in the classrooms. Their experiences can be the engine of a new education for thousands of people ”, he assured.
