Laura A. Valdiviezo

Bilingual intercultural education in indigenous schools: an ethnography of teacher interpretations of government policy

Abstract This paper explores how teachers’ beliefs and practices create spaces for the contestation and innovation of bilingual intercultural education (BIE) policy, a policy of indigenous culture and language revitalization in Peru. Based on ethnographic research, there are two central arguments developed throughout this paper. First, the author argues that unaddressed issues in the definition of BIE policy, namely its top-down design and vague treatment of the intercultural element, contribute to its problematic implementation. Under BIE the school has likely remained a space of exclusion of indigenous languages and cultures. Second, using empirically documented teacher data, the author argues that teachers are central to reproducing inequalities and contesting social structures through the implementation of policy. This paper aims to challenge common assumptions about the limited (passive) role of teachers as policy actors. Although bilingual teachers continue to contest and transform BIE policy in rural schools, their actions have remained unnoticed; thus opportunities for ground-up innovation to reach and transform the official discourse have been missed. This paper places at the center of language and policy research and, in particular, of bilingual education, the urgency to understand local practitioners – beyond the school setting – at the policy level.

Indigenous worldviews in intercultural education: teachers’ construction of interculturalism in a bilingual Quechua–Spanish program

This paper examines teachers’ implementation of a bilingual intercultural education (BIE) program in Peru. This program is inspired by global policies that promote cultural pluralism and educational access to marginalized indigenous populations. Broadly addressed in policy in Andean countries, interculturalism in Peru has remained a core educational principle with a neglected pedagogy. The lack of preparation of BIE teachers in intercultural pedagogy has both forced and allowed them intuitively to make sense of interculturalism in practice. Based on an ethnographic study of BIE teachers, this paper discusses teachers’ interpretations of interculturalism and of indigenous culture. The study aims to inform educators and policy‐makers concerned with interculturalism about the challenges and possibilities of a pedagogy that affirms diversity and advocates quality education for all. Este artículo examina la implementación del programa de educación bilingüe intercultural (EBI) en el Perú. EBI se inspira en políticas globales que promueven el pluralismo cultural y el acceso educativo de las poblaciones indígenas marginadas. Siendo parte de la pólitica nacional de distintos países andinos, la interculturalidad en el Perú se ha mantenido como principio educativo con una pedagogía negada. La falta de preparación profesional de los maestros en pedagogía intercultural ha forzado y a la vez permitido una interpretación intuitiva de EBI en la práctica. Basado en un estudio etnográfico de maestros EBI, este artículo analiza las interpretaciones de los maestros sobre interculturalidad y la cultural indígena. Este estudio intenta informar a educadores y políticos interesados en la interculturalidad, sobre los retos y las posibilidades de una pedagogía que afirma la diversidad y que promueve una educación de calidad para todos.

Indigenous Knowledge and Education from the Quechua Community to School: Beyond the Formal/Non-Formal Dichotomy.

In this article, we propose to approach Indigenous education beyond the formal/non-formal dichotomy. We argue that there is a critical need to conscientiously include Indigenous knowledge in education processes from the school to the community; particularly, when formal systems exclude Indigenous cultures and languages. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Quechua schools and communities, our examination of policy and teachers in the formal setting reveals overall contradictions towards practice, where the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge, language, and community participation remains largely symbolic, despite genuine efforts from those who support Indigenous revitalization. Further, an exploration of Wanka Quechua community educational practices focused on local ecology demonstrates that community education exhibits a structure that is culturally inclusive, intergenerational and values-driven, and rigorous and complex.

Adolescent Literacies in Latin America and the Caribbean

In the 2000, Caribbean approximately were reported 36 million to be unable youth and to read adults or write living basic in Latin texts. America Of these, and 20 the Caribbean were reported to be unable to ea or write basic t xts. Of these, 20 million were women. According to official statistics, some countries in Central America (Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras) have a youth and adult literacy rate of 80% or lower. The Caribbean countries currendy have literacy rates between 80% and 90%, except for Haiti, which has an estimated rate of 50% (UNESCO-OREALC, 2004a, p. 39, as reported in Umayahara, 2005, p. 42). Yet what do these official statistics mean? To what language do they refer? What social inequalities are reflected but not illuminated by such statistics? And how are youth, specifically, using reading and writing in creative ways not captured by these official measures? In this chapter, we review official statistics and examine literacy policy and programming for youth across Latin America and the Caribbean. We contrast these official discourses on youth and literacy and programs or policies for youth literacy with empirical studies of adolescent literacy practices noting a discrepancy that

Something That Test Scores Do Not Show: Engaging in Community Diversity as a Local Response to Global Education Trends

Abstract At Smith Street Elementary School, the globalizing education trends that English language learner (ELL) teachers face focus on measuring student achievement through testing and the English mainstreaming of non-dominant students as opposed to the cultivation of the students’ linguistic and cultural diversity. The ELL teachers at Smith Street Elementary School decided to establish their research agenda by designing a project aimed at fostering ELL student success through reaching out to families to learn from them.