A Decolonizing Study Abroad Program in Mexico for Pre-Service Teachers

Abstract

Due to the well-documented cultural mismatch between predominantly white teachers and the majority of non-white youth entering U.S. schools, teacher educators have sought multiple avenues to address this problem. This chapter explores one university study abroad program for pre-service teachers of English learners and its efforts to decolonize education by indigenizing the curriculum. The chapter explores the major program set-up, from curricular issues to building relationships with partners in Mexico. The chapter provides multiple insights into the partnership between the Mexico-based language institute, with its focus on social justice, and the doors it opened toward partnership with one indigenous school that embraced the Four Agreements. The pre-service teacher participants were dramatically impacted by that experience in ways that the author argues are enduring and decolonizing.