Negotiating Democratic Ideals and Political Realities: Exploring Tensions in Civic Engagement Teaching Training during Political Polarization in Colombia

• In Event: Teacher education and Educational Reform

Proposal

Colombia has elected its first leftist-wing national government under the promise of policy reforms that will bring social justice. This new political landscape has inflamed political polarization, giving little space to democratic deliberation oriented to solving social issues in a country implementing peace accords and still going through armed conflict. Additionally, Colombia has become the principal receiving country for Venezuelans. Within this context, in 2023, a group of Colombian teachers participated in a training to teach civic engagement through a teaching-to-vote program. Framed under democratic, liberal ideals, during the training, teachers were asked to remain neutral despite their own particular local and national contexts, their students' perceived needs, and their own political agency.

The aim of this study is to understand the tension between the ideals of a democratic liberal society promoted by a civics society organization and the ideals held by teachers amidst public opinion polarization during the first leftist-wing national government, where current and urgent social issues are being discussed. Drawing from participant observation during a one-day professional development session to train teachers on how to implement the program and semi-structured interviews with 30 teachers, this study explored how rural and urban teachers from private and public schools react to the perceived ideals about citizenship promoted during the professional development. The results show that democratic liberal ideals are in generally accepted by policymakers and teachers in private schools, who see it as a non-polemic discourse. However, when these democratic ideals come into contact with teachers who perceive themselves as active citizens and witness social injustices in their public schools, tensions and questions about the ideals promoted arise. The results highlight the need for this research to contribute to the development of pre-service and in-service teachers' training programs that acknowledge the polarized political context in complex social issues countries and teachers' perceived agency and voice in the classroom. By exploring this tension, the research provides insights into the complexities of navigating conflicting ideals and the challenges faced by teachers in promoting democratic values while addressing real-life social issues. It also provides valuable insights into the possible effectiveness of such programs in fostering civic participation and social change. This information can be utilized to refine and improve civic engagement curricula and teaching methodologies.

Author

• Lina M Rangel Diaz, University of Wisconsin-Madison