Safe and inclusive schools: inclusive values found in Chilean teachers' practices

ABSTRACT

In line with what is advised by the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Chile committed to working towards having safe and inclusive environments for students in the national education system. This commitment becomes evident in the policies and legislation promoting inclusion and sanctioning violence in Chilean schools. The present empirical study analyses semi-structured interviews with teachers working in the Chilean southern regions Los Lagos and Los Ríos, with the purpose of providing a description of teachers’ practices when handling peer-to-peer violence. The evidence was qualitatively scrutinised so as to portray possible inclusive values in teachers’ approaches to deal with violence among students in their work places. The results of this study disclose several inclusive values present in educators’ practices, which suggests an intention to promote safety and inclusion for everyone. Notwithstanding the apparent teachers’ efforts to provide their students with safe and inclusive establishments, the Chilean education system might need to strengthen the links among social services, schools and families. Therefore, having teachers whose practices show inclusive morals does not seem enough to ensure safe and inclusive schools, but rather complements the collaborative work that appears necessary among the different actors of the education system.

KEYWORDS:

• Peer-to-peer violence
• inclusive education
• teachers
• Chile

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 This question is one of two which were part of a larger study to obtain the researcher’s degree of MSc Inclusive and Special Education at the University of Edinburgh.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Chilean Ministry of Education through the Advanced Human Capital Programme of the Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (CONICYT), under [grant number 73160734].

Notes on contributors

Yesenia Soto Torres

Yesenia Soto Torres is a Chilean English teacher graduated from Universidad Austral de Chile, university where she is currently working in the English Teaching Training Programme. In 2016, Ms Soto completed the MSc Inclusive and Special Education at the University of Edinburgh. Ms Soto has working experience in pre-school, primary and tertiary education, and her research interests include the areas of teaching English as a foreign language, inclusive education and child protection.