The current research brings together the fields of Indigenous and rural education with teacher education in the Chilean Northern Territory. The main aim of this research project is to improve teacher preparation by listening to the voices of teachers working in remote contexts and most importantly listening to community member’s experiences of teachers. The study aims to better understand both groups perceptions of the pedagogical skills and knowledge that teachers need in order to teach in an isolated context with a high population of Indigenous students in the Chilean Northern Territory. To achieve this aim, the study explores both teachers and Indigenous community perceptions about their experiences of education in rural Indigenous settings. This research seeks to contribute further knowledge of social research to disadvantaged rural communities (White & Corbett, 2014). The project is significant because it seeks to reveal from the voices of those in context (teachers and Indigenous community members) about how to improve teachers practice. Therefore, this project will contribute to Atacameños student’s education improvement, allowing them to have more opportunities to continue further studies.

Atacameños are one of the eight recognised Chilean Indigenous groups who live mainly in the Atacama Desert. Atacameños students assist in isolated rural schools. These schools are combined, which means that the same classroom have students with different ages and levels. This represents a main challenge to teachers, who are not prepared to perform adequately in these settings.

Indigenous people have the right to a high-quality level of education that enables them to improve their well-being and to enhance their quality of life (United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2008). However, in some Latin American countries like Chile, Indigenous education needs some improvement (Mendoza & Sanhueza, 2016; Nahuelpán et al., 2019; Quintriqueo et al., 2017). The lack of teachers’ preparation to teach in this context might be causing the high rates of teacher attrition and rotation affecting rural Indigenous students’ education (Carrasco et al., 2017; Hardre & Sullivan, 2008; Sharplin et al., 2011). Additionally, this research explores teachers and Indigenous communities’ viewpoints about teacher preparation to teach in an Indigenous, rural context.

     The main research question is:

How can teacher preparation best serve the needs of Indigenous students in rural and remote Chile?

     Sub-questions are:

• What are the lived experiences of non-Indigenous teachers living and working in rural and remote Chile?
• What are the teaching experiences of non-Indigenous teachers working in rural and remote Chile?
• What are the community views of teacher preparation that will best serve their student needs?
• What skills and knowledge do teachers need further professional development with in order to teach in Indigenous schools in the Chilean context?

 Theoretical framework

This research is shaped by two main approaches: the social constructionism theory (Berger & Luckmann, 1967), and the postcolonial Indigenous knowledge approach (Chilisa, 2012; Singh & Major, 2017; Smith, 2012). The adoption of the social constructionism in this research is based on the idea that teachers’ perceptions and Indigenous community points of view are influenced by the contexts and in the interaction with others (peers, other community members, students). This approach also suggests that there is not a universal and objective truth (Crotty, 1998). However, all assumptions could be explained in social terms (Kukla, 2000). Similar to the social constructionism perspective, the ontological assumption of the postcolonial Indigenous paradigm is that reality is constructed through social interactions, and this is framed by individuals and their link with the environment and the cosmos (Chilisa, 2012). Additionally, this research will embrace a rights-based approach, considering the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN, 2008).

This research undertake a combination of Grounded Theory design and elements of Decolonising Methodology. The use of Grounded Theory addressed the gap in current theories through the generation of new theory obtained by the systematic data analysis in a social research; this can ensure that the new “theory will fit and work. And since the categories are discovered by examination of the data, laymen involved in the area to which the theory applies will usually be able to understand it” (Glaser & Strauss, 1967, p. 3). This means that theory that emerges from the research must be applicable and meaningful in the context of the study. In addition, from the perspective of Decolonising Methodology, the incorporation of local knowledge and the respect for the local people and culture are crucial in research. This methodology aims to give voice to minorities who have been affected by colonisation history. Consequently, an essential component of this research is to hear the voice of Atacamenos peoples and the non-Indigenous teachers that teach in their schools. To achieve this, semi-structured face to face interviews with teachers, and local authorities such as the Director of Education Department were the main source of data gathering. Additionally, life-story interviews were key to collect information about the perception of local Indigenous community members. Memo writing also was using as a second source resource to collect data; this instrument/ method helped to register elements such as participants’ body language during the interviews, and informal conversation with participants in the field. Participants were four non-Indigenous teachers from four different schools, four Indigenous community members belonging to the same community of each teacher, the local Director of the Education Department, and, one Leader of Atacameños Community. Main authors of Indigenous research (Chilisa, 2012; Lincoln & Guba, 1986) claim that in order to gain participants’ engagement, it is recommended that the researcher spend some considered time in the field and build a relationship with participants and communities. Engagement with the participants could avoid them providing false information or distortion on sources. Accordingly, data collection was conducted in the Atacama Desert of Chile. During this time, all the participants were informed about the research aims and process, which included transcription and member checking. Interviews were conducted in Spanish, as it is the official language spoken in these communities, which is also the original language of the main researcher.

The study builds on research into Indigenous education in the Latin American context (Alfaro & Quezada, 2010; Catriquir & Duran, 1997; López, 2015; Nahuelpán, et al., 2019; Ortiz, 2009; Osuna, 2013; Polanco & Rayas, 2019). These investigations, however, focused on the educational laws and policies such as the national curriculum, and intercultural programs. In contrast, this study examines teachers’ and their communities’ points of view and voices. Further, research on Indigenous education has been done in Chile. These findings highlight that teachers working in Indigenous communities feel they need more knowledge about the local worldview (Becerra-Lubies, & Fones, 2016). Secondly, findings suggest that to improve teaching in Indigenous schools, teachers need experiential knowledge; this is gained through interaction with the communities. Furthermore, teachers are transmitting a standard education, which does not give value to the Indigenous traditions and knowledge, and changing this situation represents one of the main challenges for teachers (Poblete, 2003; Ortiz, 2009). Lastly, these findings claim that teacher education needs to consider the specificity of Indigenous contexts, and to prepare teachers to perform in these (Anderson et al., 2017; Ma Rhea, 2015; Moreton-Robinson et al., 2012;Turra et al., 2013). These particular studies focused on the Mapuche communities, and therefore have different characteristics—such as geographic location, history, economic activities—to the Atacameños communities. Thus, this research will be focused on exploring the particular reality of teachers working with Atacameños communities in isolated areas in Chile. Finally, this study seeks to contribute further to the knowledge of social research to disadvantaged rural communities (White & Corbett, 2014). The project is significant because it seeks to reveal from the voices of those in context about how to improve their practice and, consequently, contribute to the quality of Atacameños students’ education, providing more opportunities to continue further studies.

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