APPLICATION SCHOOLS: CONTEXT, PRACTICES AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO CONTEMPORARY EDUCATION

Abstract

This article analyzes the role of Laboratory Schools within the contemporary educational landscape, highlighting their contributions to teacher training, pedagogical innovation, and the promotion of emancipatory practices. It discusses the historical framework, purposes, and organizational structure of these institutions, whose mission integrates teaching, research, and community outreach, establishing themselves as formative spaces and laboratories for pedagogical experimentation. Active methodologies are emphasized as central strategies capable of redefining teaching practices, fostering student protagonism, and promoting a critical, inclusive, and democratic education. The study indicates that, although Laboratory Schools play a strategic role in teacher education and in the development of innovative pedagogical practices, they face structural and political challenges that require effective public policies for their consolidation. It concludes that these institutions are fundamental to strengthening a high-quality, socially referenced public education, committed to social transformation and to the construction of a critical, reflective, and emancipatory pedagogical practice.