Influences of Educational Policy on the Pre-Service Education of Teachers in Science and Environmental Education: A Latin American Context

Abstract

This study aims to recognize which political guidelines operate at the educational level and influence the pre-service education of teachers in science and environmental education. The research question concerns which political discourses influence the curriculum of the pre-service education of teachers in science and environmental education in Colombia. To address this question, we conducted exploratory research regarding educational policies from 1886 to 2017; these consisted of eight laws, nineteen decrees, and eight resolutions. Additionally, we made use of the document of the Colombian System of Educator Education and Policy Guidelines. Finally, in the Universidad del Valle, we studied five resolutions that guided the pre-service education of teachers in science education from 2002 to 2017. In our introduction, we discuss a range of theoretical influences, such as of the World Bank and Western European thought, in education policy discourses that are subsequently supported by the results of our research. Our findings help to understand how scientific and environmental education knowledge could, in response to the educational policy, co-exist or compete with each other for placement.