POLICY BRIEF - From compensatory to transformative: Indigenous women teachers and the future of intercultural education in Argentina

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jake

Despite three decades of policy development, Indigenous children and youth in Argentina still lack access to Intercultural Bilingual Education (IBE) schools and quality learning, with Indigenous girls facing added barriers linked to gendered responsibilities and safety concerns. Based on storytelling interviews, focus groups, a survey, and a participatory workshop, the brief examines pathways, barriers, and supports experienced by Indigenous women teachers and policy actors. Findings highlight teachers as key agents of cultural transmission and change, and propose recommendations for gender-equal, culturally grounded, and systemically cohesive IBE implementation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages31

Reading Time1 h 18 min

AccessFree to download

Executive Summary

Introduction

IBE policy progress and persistent gaps

Implementation constraints and lack of systemic cohesion

Teacher preparation shortcomings

Role of Indigenous women teachers

POLICY BRIEF From compensatory to transformative: Indigenous women teachers and the future of intercultural education in Argentina ECHIDNA GLOBAL SCHOLARS PROGRAM Z AYN AB GATES Executive Summary Despite three decades of policy development, the majority of Indigenous children and youth do not have access to Intercultural Bilingual Education (IBE) schools and a quality education, with Indigenous girls facing additional barriers rooted in gendered responsibilities and safety concerns. Drawing on storytelling interviews, focus groups, a survey, and a participatory workshop with Indigenous women teachers and policy actors, this policy brief explores the pathways Indigenous women navigated in their education, the barriers and supports they encountered, and what these experiences can reveal about building gender equality from a culturally grounded perspective. Findings show how Indigenous women teachers faced social and cultural restrictions, made use of available supports and enablers, and emerged as key actors and critical agents of cultural transmission and change. Based on the possibilities opened by this first wave of Indigenous women teachers in Argentina and centered on their experiences and voices, the brief offers recommendations to support IBE policy achieve its promise in three interconnected dimensions: 1) Create commitment for change based on the values of diversity, multilingualism, and gender equality. 2) Support Indigenous women teachers’ capacities to lead transformative education through new roles and spaces within the school, and networks to expand their reach. 3) Align policy actors through the development of a shared vision and purpose for IBE that creates the cohesiveness needed for systemic change. FROM COMPENSATORY TO TRANSFORMATIVE: INDIGENOUS WOMEN TEACHERS AND THE FUTURE OF INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION IN ARGENTINA 2 Introduction Over the past 30 years, Argentina has made significant advances in recognizing Indigenous children’s rights to relevant education through the development of an Intercultural Bilingual Education (IBE) policy (Argentina 2006; Hecht 2014), yet these advances have not translated into improved educational outcomes for Indigenous young people. Only two out of ten Indigenous children and youth attend IBE schools (Hecht et al. 2025; Ministry of Human Capital 2025b; INDEC 2024), and their learning achievements in Math and Language are on average ten percentage points below those of non-Indigenous children (Ambao and Bottinelli 2024) . Indigenous girls face additional hurdles in their educational trajectory due to the weight of gendered responsibilities and safety concerns (Anaya 2012, 18; ENDEPA 2018b, 16; Asociación Civil Lola Mora and ONU Mujeres 2025) . The current IBE policy has fallen short in delivering educational experiences that are culturally grounded, develop students’ diverse talents, and support them to contribute to their own and their communities’ well-being. Efforts to implement IBE in Argentina have included the formation of new coordination units atthe national and state levels, the creation of IBE teaching degrees and training institutions, the development of educational materials, and the launching of scholarships for Indigenous students. Yet IBE implementation has lacked the systemic cohesion and sustained support to simultaneously address the many necessary components of the policy (ENDEPA 2018a), from curriculum, teachers, and schools to aligning around purpose, pedagogy, and mindsets (Sengeh and Winthrop 2022) . Indeed, Hecht (2014) has criticized the design of the IBE policy itself for taking a limited view of IBE as a compensatory program; ENDEPA (2018a, 38) has also noted the failure to include broad Indigenous participation. Teacher preparation, one of the primary levers through which IBE is translated into practice, exemplifies these gaps in both policy design and implementation. IBE teacher preparation programs, created as part of

FAQs

What problem does the policy brief address in Argentina’s education system?

Most Indigenous children and youth do not access IBE schools and quality education, and Indigenous girls face additional barriers tied to gendered responsibilities and safety concerns.

How does the brief investigate Indigenous women teachers’ experiences?

It uses storytelling interviews, focus groups, a survey, and a participatory workshop with Indigenous women teachers and policy actors.

What do the findings suggest about the role of Indigenous women teachers?

Indigenous women teachers face social and cultural restrictions but also use available supports, and they emerge as key agents for cultural transmission and for transforming education.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jake