Ethnic equity, Mapudungun, and CLIL

Abstract

Since 2006, the Argentinian system of education has included intercultural bilingual education, a type of education across kindergarten, primary, and secondary education that guarantees the indigenous peoples’ right to receive quality and equitable education which preserves and strengthens their cultural practices, language, cosmovision, and ethnic identity in a multicultural society. In the province of Chubut, southern Argentina, the Ministry of Education launched a professional development program targeted at primary school teachers working in small town and rural areas with students ethnically associated to the Mapuche peoples and their language, Mapudungun. The aim of this paper is to examine how a group of four teachers understood and implemented CLIL in relation to ethnic equity and socially just education in a semi-rural area of Chubut. Framed as a case study, data were collected in 2021 and 2022 through group discussions, journal diaries, and arts-based methods. Data came from four primary school teachers as well as the program facilitator. By means of quality content analysis, the findings show teachers’ understanding of CLIL as an inclusive and equitable approach that can help promote ethnic identity and ethnolinguistic vitality.