Teachers’ discourses on the presence of migrant students in the history classroom: towards a dialogue of knowledge

Abstract

This qualitative study aims to characterise the potentialities derived from the presence of migrant students in the implementation of the History, Geography and Social Sciences curriculum in Chilean classrooms. From an interpretative paradigm, the discourses of twelve interviews with primary and secondary school teachers from municipal schools with the highest foreign enrolment in the commune of Chillán (Ñuble, Chile) were analysed. The main finding refers to the fact that teachers see the presence of migrant students as anopportunity the establishment of a dialogue of knowledge, as these students are living historical sources. This would occur through the valuing and emerging use of cultural knowledge from the voices of migrant students and participatory strategies deployed by teachers. However, such dialogue would turn out to be a self-interested exercise, according to the dominant competency-based curriculum matrix in education.