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Elementary School Teachers in Neoliberal Times: The Silent Voices That Make Educational Policies Work
Maestros de primaria en tiempos de neoliberalismo: voces silenciosas que hacen que las políticas educativas funcionen
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15446/profile.v23n1.83052Keywords:
educational policies, neoliberalism in education, policy makers, teachers' micro-practices, elementary school teachers (en)diseñadores de políticas, maestros de primaria, microprácticas de los maestros, neoliberalismo en educación, políticas educativas (es)
This paper aims at showing how a bottom-up approach of the study of educational policies can shed some light on how elementary school teachers deal with educational policies to make them work. This is a partial report on a larger focus group study conducted in Bogotá, Colombia, where a group of elementary school teachers shared their opinions about educational policies. The data collected allowed us to see that teachers take actions, have their own perspectives about policies, and feel negatively treated by the national government, which give way to three categories: Teachers’ Micro-Practices, Clashing Visions About Education, and Mistreatment. We conclude that despite the pervasiveness of neoliberalism in education, which teachers are very aware of, they find ways to make policies work while being critical of the way these are designed and implemented.
El objetivo de este artículo es mostrar cómo el adoptar una perspectiva de abajo hacia arriba en el estudio de políticas educativas puede dar luces sobre el modo en que los maestros de educación primaria enfrentan dichas políticas para hacer que estas funcionen. Este es un reporte parcial sobre un estudio más amplio con grupos focales que se llevó a cabo en Bogotá, Colombia, donde un grupo de profesores de primaria compartieron sus opiniones acerca de las políticas educativas. Los datos recogidos nos permitieron ver que, frente a las políticas, los maestros toman acciones, tienen visiones encontradas sobre educación, y se sienten maltratados por el Estado, lo que generó tres categorías: microprácticas de los maestros, visiones encontradas sobre educación y maltrato. Concluimos que, a pesar de la omnipresencia del neoliberalismo en la educación, de la cual los profesores son completamente conscientes, ellos encuentran formas de hacer que las políticas funcionen, pero al mismo tiempo son críticos de las formas en las que estas son diseñadas e implementadas.
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