Revalorising critical pedagogies from rural Peru: four teachers’ stories of social justice in education

• In Event: Education for Societal Transformation: Alternatives for a Just Future (Panel 1)

Proposal

Over the previous three decades, social justice in education has become increasingly relevant to debates on globalisation and inequalities around the world. In the Latin American context, neoliberalism has become hegemonic in the last 30 years with Peru adopting this model in the early 1990s. However, neoliberalism has affected communities in distinct ways, reinforcing historical exclusions against rural and indigenous populations in countries like Peru.
Within the educational field, teachers play a central role in educational process. But the Peruvian scenario shows that rural teachers’ voices who are engaged in the praxis of social justice have not been sufficiently heard at the level of national debates nor have they been part of major studies. Hence, this presentation will address the following questions: How do rural teachers understand and practice social justice through critical pedagogies? In what ways these conceptions and practices could come into tension with neoliberal policies? To address these questions, critical pedagogies will be included as a theoretical framework to discuss Freirean concepts such as critical consciousness, problem posing and dialogue. Methodologically, the research uses a narrative approach which emphasises the meanings of participants’ experiences. Through in-depth interviews, four teachers from Cusco and Ayacucho (two of the poorest regions in the highlands of Peru) share their stories around social justice in education.
Thus, the presentation will show the teachers’ narratives through educational practices in which critical concepts such as dialogue and critical consciousness are contributing to the revalorisation of Quechua culture. Another key dimension is the engagement with the community in revalorising the indigenous knowledge. For instance, most of these teachers encourage students to talk with the “Yachaq” (wise elders in the rural Andes) in Quechua language to stimulate the use of this language while preserving its cultural elements. Finally, these narratives are emerging from rural teachers who are making their voices heard from a social justice approach.

Author

• Silvia Espinal-Meza, University of Bristol, UK