Off-campus UMass Amherst users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your UMass Amherst user name and password.
Non-UMass Amherst users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
Dissertations that have an embargo placed on them will not be available to anyone until the embargo expires.
Author ORCID Identifier
AccessType
Open Access Dissertation
Document Type
dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Program
Education
Year Degree Awarded
2019
Month Degree Awarded
May
First Advisor
Ximena Zúñiga
Subject Categories
Education | Gender Equity in Education | International and Comparative Education | Other Teacher Education and Professional Development | Teacher Education and Professional Development | Urban Education
Abstract
Chile’s educational inequality has sparked intense debates in recent years (Cabalin & Bellei, 2013; Stromquist & Sanyal, 2013). While there is a wide consensus concerning the crucial role that teachers play in fostering inclusion in the classroom, research suggests that Chilean teachers, often without intent or awareness, reinforce exclusionary student interactions marked by social class and gender hierarchies (Carrasco, Zamora, & Castillo, 2015; SERNAM, 2009; Tijoux, 2013). Although teachers’ motivation and concern for questions related to exclusion and inclusion in education are spreading, navigating exclusionary dynamics can be particularly challenging especially since teachers’ initial and continuing professional education seldom addresses these issues (Sleeter, Montecinos, & Jiménez, 2016).
Informed by literature on social justice education, the legislative framework that regulates exclusion and non-discrimination policies and practices, and empirical research on social class and gender dynamics in Chilean schools, this exploratory study uses qualitative methods (Creswell, 2009) to gain a nuanced understanding of teachers’ understanding of and responses to discriminatory behavior in the classrooms. Two 1-hour interviews were conducted with eight Chilean urban middle school teachers from different gender and social class background. The first interview asked about their understanding of and responses to vignettes portraying social class or gender-based discrimination dynamics in a classroom; the second interview inquired about some of the professional, personal, and contextual factors that may be shaping their understandings and responses.
Three significant findings emerged from the qualitative analysis of the data. First, teachers’ “big ideas” of exclusion and inclusion in education appear to be aligned with public policies focusing on non-discrimination, yet this alignment does not necessarily translate into more inclusive practices in their classrooms. Second, most of the teachers interviewed appear to respond to students’ discriminatory behavior based on prior personal experiences, or by the use of a trial-and-error approach, which suggests a lack of professional development opportunities focusing on how to proactively respond to these dynamics in the classroom. Third, teachers’ biographies, personal experiences, and knowledge of educational psychology inform their understanding of and responses to discriminatory behavior in the classrooms. These findings build on relevant literature discussing social class and gender dynamics in Chilean schools, suggesting the value of promoting professional development opportunities to help teachers bridge their understanding of exclusionary dynamics at the macro level with their responses at the micro level.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/341r-wt40
Recommended Citation
Campos-Martínez, Javier Martín, "Chilean Teachers Responses to and Understanding of Student Interaction with Diverse Peers in the Classroom" (2019). Doctoral Dissertations. 1660.
https://doi.org/10.7275/341r-wt40
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/1660
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Included in
Gender Equity in Education Commons, International and Comparative Education Commons, Other Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons, Urban Education Commons