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

Abstract

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.

Keywords:

• bilingual teachers
• diversity
• education policy
• indigenous
• Quecha

Notes

1. The author approached interculturalism and multiculturalism as interchangeable concepts. The terms have been used interchangeably throughout different literature. A conceptual distinction was drawn in Luis Enrique López’s earlier work, where he established that the fundamental difference between both principles is that multiculturalism emphasizes tolerance between cultures, while interculturality emphasizes cultural exchange. The vast scholarship that has followed the conceptual development surrounding both multiculturalism and interculturality seems to blur such distinctions.

2. ‘Students’, ‘BIE students’, ‘Quechua students’ and ‘indigenous students’ are used to refer to all students in the three schools involved in the large ethnographic study. All students in the BIE program were indigenous Quechua speakers.