ORCID
Katerin Arias-Ortega: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8099-0670
Viviana Villarroel: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0408-8794
Abstract
The article reports on the challenges that rural education has been facing in La Araucanía, Chile, from the perspective of Mapuche parents. The study’s methodology was qualitative and involved Mapuche families who sent their children to rural, single-teacher schools located in an Indigenous context. The findings indicate that Mapuche mothers perceive the education that their children receive in rural schools to be of lower academic quality. Furthermore, they acknowledge that rural education receives less economic support than education in urban settings, which creates a disadvantage for Indigenous and peasant children. This disparity limits their ability to acquire the same resources as non-Indigenous children, thereby hindering their potential to compete on an equal footing in contemporary society. While participants recognize the economic and academic shortcomings of rural schools, they value the affective and humanizing aspects provided in these schools, as opposed to the individualism and school violence seen in urban contexts. Based on these findings, we discuss the urgency of rethinking rural school education in Mapuche territory, to implement actions to reverse social inequalities and educational gaps that consciously or unconsciously are built into Indigenous territories.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Arias-Ortega, K.,
&
Villarroel, V.
(2026).
Challenges and Opportunities in Rural Education: The Case of La Araucanía, Chile.
The Rural Educator, 47(3), 65-82.
https://doi.org/10.55533/2643-9662.1553
