Intercultural Education: The Training of Teachers for Inclusion

• In Event: Comparative Studies in Teacher Education

Abstract

1. Objectives

This paper looks into how teachers are being trained in Latin America to deal with diversity and inclusion. A comparative approach is used, and the paper draws on previous research carried out in four Latin American countries regarding the training of Indigenous teachers (blind citation).

2. Perspective(s) or theoretical framework

Inclusion has become a keyword in education. SDG 4 proposes to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all by 2030. However, in general, minorities face many more difficulties in attaining schooling and particularly in achieving learning outcomes. Although exclusion from schooling and learning are mainly due to contextual variables such as poverty, rurality, parents’ education, native language when it is different from that in which education is carried out, what seems to be true is that teaching is not compensating for inequality but rather aggravating it. A significant part of the problem is because teachers are not being trained to deal with diversity and to treat it as a pedagogical advantage.

3. Methods, techniques, or modes of inquiry

The reforms and conditions of indigenous teacher education in Latin American are illustrated in seven country case studies five from the largest countries including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, and Peru.

4. Data sources

Past research, reviews of the Latin American literature on indigenous teacher education reform, and research reports.


5. Results

Regarding teacher training, we see important progress in many countries, but also serious drawbacks that require a strong political will and well-established long-term policies with adequate monitoring and evaluation. The training of Indigenous teachers must tend to the issue of the poor quality of previous education and surmount this problem to ensure quality teacher training. The linguistic and cultural content of their formation as intercultural educators has clearly to be strengthened, and this requires investment in strong research projects where Indigenous students and professors participate. The number of trained Indigenous teachers has to grow considerably, and this calls for improving the quality and efficiency of the primary and secondary education that Indigenous students receive, so it is necessary to find a way to break this vicious circle if Indigenous intercultural education is to thrive.

6. Scientific or scholarly significance of the study or work

Intercultural and inclusive education for the population as a whole is needed. The need for an education that directly combats racism and discrimination and that fosters respect and appreciation for the different others is needed in a world in which cultural and linguistic differences are more prevalent and in which racist attitudes and racist organizations are growing stronger. The need for an education that places equity at its centre and that recognizes that to attain it, different students need to be treated differently, is a must if we are to expect progress towards SDG 4 and if we are to reverse the consequences for the education of a long-lasting pandemic.

Author

• Sylvia Schmelkes, Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México