Community Voice in Educational Decision Making: Quechua Parents' and Students' Conceptions of Educational Opportunity

• In Event: 66.058 - Roundtable Session 28
  In Roundtable Session: 66.058-9 - Parents, Communities, and the Negotiation of Complex Power Relationships

Abstract

Working towards social justice in education requires community voices to be heard and understood (Mansfield, 2014). However, understanding community voice is a complex process that requires thoughtful interpretation. Using five years of qualitative data from working with rural Quechua (Indigenous) communities outside of Cusco, Peru, this study examines and compares students’ and parents’ aspirations and expectations of education. To understand the implications of these aspirations in regards to education policy and curriculum, I interpret the respondents’ ideas through postcolonial theory and development theory, finding points of tension and synthesis. The findings contribute to theoretical and policy paradigms for understanding the connections between culturally grounded education development and social justice.

Author

• Joseph Levitan, McGill University