Guided by care: teacher decision-making in a rural intercultural bilingual classroom in Peru

Abstract

This paper explores how one teacher working in an intercultural bilingual school in rural Peru implemented an ethic of care through three key actions: the incorporation of funds of knowledge, the focus on revitalising and repurposing Indigenous knowledge and local materials and the instruction and use of both Quechua and Spanish. The paper also examines how the focal teacher embodied an ethic of care as reflected in her relationships with students and their families.

Keywords:

• Peru
• Quechua
• intercultural education
• bilingual education
• ethic of care

Notes

1. This acronym reflects the Spanish name for this directorate in the Peruvian Ministry of Education: La Dirección General de Educación Intercultural Bilingüe y Rural (DIGEIBIR).

2. All names are pseudonyms.

3. Politicity is defined as ‘the quality of being political’ (Freire 1985, 17).