1. The Role of “Magic Teachers” in Colombian Youth’s Secondary Education Experiences

• In Event: Understanding Marginalized Youth’s Secondary Education Experiences: A Mixed-methods Study of Colombia, India, and Malawi

Proposal

Within the framework of a global mixed-methods project that sought to understand marginalized youth’s secondary education experiences in Colombia, Malawi, and India during 2020-2023, data from Colombia showed the role of teachers as crucial in the schooling and post-school experiences of marginalized urban and rural students. We argue for the importance of “magic teachers”—a term used by students–in successfully supporting marginalized youth’s secondary education experiences. The presence of magic teachers played a defining role in these students’ schooling experiences, as, according to youth themselves, these teachers’ characteristics, ways of approaching content, and interpersonal relationships impacted what students believed they could learn and achieve, and do with their own lives. Marginalized youth acknowledged the positive effect of magic teachers in their lives, both academically and beyond school, in describing how magic teachers gained their admiration, respect, and encouraged their desire to reshape the social expectations (e.g., getting pregnant, joining an armed group, getting married, or working for income) they faced. All of these expectations were driven by youth’s origins, place of living, and gender; and in most cases, precluded tertiary education.
In this presentation, we will share the results of our research in the Colombian department of Antioquia from 2020 to 2023. Our data include 17 student interviews, 27 student focal groups, 22 teacher interviews, and interviews of 13 educational authorities, along with a large-scale survey of 250 students in 16 schools. Findings show that students in the two focal schools understand magic teachers as a combination of mastering specific knowledge, authority, and care for students’ emotions and personal lives. As one urban focal group participant reflected, “I really like her classes, we really understand the subject, she puts magic into things” (FGD, 2020). Additionally, findings show that the influence of magic teachers in students’ lives extends beyond the schooling experience and affects their life choices and the view of life they ultimately adopt. Finally, findings show that students’ needs and aspirations require not only magic teachers, but also a set of social situations that can extend the role of the school as a protective environment, since many of them lose this protection once they finish the last grade of secondary school.
As a general conclusion, this presentation invites the audience to learn what students consistently mention as influential characteristics of teachers and the way they feel heard, acknowledged, and visible by these teachers. Also, we invite educators to care about students’ life challenges as an immediate and direct situation that influences their attitudes towards school in general; just like all other human beings, students and teachers experience difficulties outside of school; finding communicative bridges to jointly relate and overcome these challenges makes schooling experiences necessary preparation for life after school.

Authors

• Yenny Chavarria, The University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Thomas Luschei, Claremont Graduate University