School ethnography on intercultural education in three Mapuche schools in La Araucania

Since 1996 the educational policy of the Chilean State implements a Programa de Educacion Intercultural Bilingile (PEIB) [Program of Intercultural Bilingual Education], as a form of historical reparation with indigenous peoples, incorporating learning content about the language and culture of these peoples into the school curriculum. The article presents research results on the implementation of the Educacion Intercultural Bilingile (EIB) [Bilingual Intercultural Education], in three schools in La Araucania. The methodology is qualitative, with a descriptive level of exploratory scope. The results account for socio-pedagogical factors that limit the implementation of the EIB, with an asymmetric and epistemologically stressed educational relationship prevailing between the mentor teacher, the traditional educator, and the students. We conclude that even though the EIB has been in the Chilean school system for more than twenty years, it would not be contributing to the development of additive bilingualism, by relearning the indigenous language.