What do the identities and capitals of working-class students contribute to teacher education in Chile?

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 3:45 pm - Gold 1
  In Roundtable Session: La Frontera: Examining Issues of Educational Justice from North to South America

Abstract

This presentation reports on a narrative inquiry conducted with ten students who enrolled in pedagogy programs at three Chilean universities. These students come from working-class backgrounds and were admitted through equity quotas, having not achieved the minimum standardized test scores required for university admission. The study discusses the traditional academic support and training strategies, which are grounded in a deficit perspective. Instead, it advocates for an approach based on recognition and social justice, considering values students’ potential by linking funds of knowledge and identity with narrative methods and a conceptualization of diverse forms of capital. The findings point out learnings and capabilities that these students develop in their everyday lives as worth capital for challenging and transforming higher education.

Authors

• Gustavo Adolfo González, Universidad Católica Silva Henriquez

• Laura Elisa Munoz, Universidad Católica Silva Henríquez

• Paulina Marcela Gamboa, Universidad Catolica Silva Henriquez