This article is an effort to unveil how colonialism gets inscribed in research education initiatives during peace-building. To this end, we look behind the scenes of an education development project that sought to support a rural school in consolidating high-quality education during Colombia's recent peace process. We examine how, in our roles as…

The relation between English language teaching and religion has not been given sufficient attention. Most of the existing explorations of this relationship have tended to reify Western-biased outlooks of this phenomenon, which rightly highlight serious moral dilemmas derived from a focus on Christian evangelization, neo-imperialist dynamics…

This systematic literature review examines the panorama of interculturality in rural contexts of bilingual education in Latin America. It aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge in Latin America and identify key themes, challenges, and gaps in the field. The review highlights the importance of recognizing and…

Drawing on a larger study of the current state of affairs of English language teaching (ELT) in rural Colombia, this paper interrogates the social impact which education policies promoting English have been associated with. Informed mainly by Nancy Fraser's theory of social justice, I analyse teachers' narratives (obtained through interviews and…

This article reports on an action research project conducted with six ninth grade students in a rural public school in Colombia. The purpose of the study was to determine how the implementation of three reading strategies (skimming, scanning, and making predictions), when reading topics selected by learners, helps them to improve their reading…

Colombia's rural "escuelas nuevas" feature multigrade classrooms, flexible promotion, rural-oriented curriculum, parent and community involvement, mastery learning, peer instruction, and library resources. A study of over 3,000 students found that, compared to traditional schools, Escuela Nueva schools had lower dropout probabilities,…

A Colombian model of rural elementary education has increased student achievement. Basic characteristics are active learning, structured yet flexible and multifaceted nature, extensive training and support for teachers, and opportunities for meaningful involvement of students, teachers, and community members. A Guatemalan reform based on the model…

To compensate for disadvantages of traditional rural schools, Colombia's Escuela Nueva (New School) movement offers solutions such as self-instruction guides geared to aspects of daily life and flexible school schedules. Teacher training that encourages student and community involvement is a key element. Escuela Nueva successes have led to its…

We reflect on methodological issues arising in two of our own research projects as a form of practice, as a way of engaging in a praxis of project research. The projects chosen for this purpose are themselves concerned with teacher education and curriculum development in environmental education: they include participatory "reflective…