Teaching the language and culture of the Mapuche: A case study of its implementation as a subject in the primary education curriculum

Abstract

This research explores the content and teaching strategies of the language and culture of the Mapuche, taught in primary school, by analyzing the perceptions and practices of the pedagogical pairs who implement the subject of Indigenous Language in the early years of primary education. The sample was comprised of six schools who offer this subject, that met the following selection criteria: 1) effective implementation, 2) geographic zone; 3) number of years implementing the subject and/or initiatives on intercultural education and bilingualism. In each school, classroom observations and interviews with the school leaders, traditional educators and teachers were conducted. The research results showed there are two main types of teaching strategies: those related to the mapuche culture and those which are not directly related to this culture. The teaching contents are very similar among all the cases; however, they are contextualized to the local contexts of each community. In addition, the contents are predominantly oriented towards cultural, instead of language. Due to the autonomy in which the traditional educators work, their pedagogical decisions are based on their own beliefs on how to motivate students to develop a sense of belonging towards the mapuche identity instead of focusing on bilingualism.