Browsing by Subject "Ecuador"

The aim of this thesis is to explore how the Indigenous people’s rights to education in their own language and culture are realized in practice and what are the challenges for providing education that is both high in quality and equal for all. For the context of the research, the rights of Indigenous peoples were studied, and also central to this research were concepts of intercultural bilingual education and Indigenous knowledge. The research data was collected as part of a case study that was carried out during geography field course to the Ecuadorian Amazon in October 2015. The research was carried out using qualitative methods and the research methods were semi-structured interviews and observation. Expert interviews were conducted in Quito, which teachers and parents were interviewed in schools in Ahuano, Santa Clara and Sarayaku. The results are in line with previous research and show that the education does not in all respects consider the cultural and linguistic rights of Indigenous peoples. Even though the majority of the students in the schools selected for the study were Amazonian Kichwa, the language of teaching and instruction was mainly Spanish, and Indigenous language and culture were taught in separate lesson. There were differences between the schools in both resources and curriculums. As a conclusion, it can be stated that teaching is subject to continuous development, but there is no consensus among different actors and communities how it should be organized in the future. On the one hand, there are calls for organizing the teaching independently in accordance with local traditions and cherishing the language and culture of the Indigenous peoples, but the educational policy guidelines and the teaching materials dictate what kind of teaching is available for the children.