A Fey y Alegria School in Bolivia

Preparing Teachers to teach in culturally responsive ways: A Case study of a Fe y Alegria school in Bolivia

Principal Investigator: Tracy Gates, University of British Columbia The goal of this case study is to provide data that will lead to a grounded description of how teachers in a Bolivian Fe y Alegria school are prepared to teach in ways that value and utilize the community realities and cultural practices of literacy of their students. Data were collected to answer the following questions: (1.) How do the teacher preparation procedures and processes at the Fe y Alegria school in Cochabamba, prepare new teachers to work with the community culture and literacy practices of their students during the teaching of literacy? (1.a.) What are the literacy practices of the communities from which Fe y Alegria students come? (1.b.) What are the literacy practices embedded within the literacy instruction in the schools for grades 1 and 2? (1.c.) How do the literacy practices of the community and school align? The research is taking place within the school and surrounding community in a poverty stricken area of Cochabamba, Bolivia. Ultimately, this data could be used to inform future teacher preparation programs on how to prepare teachers to be more culturally responsive to the communities they live and teach in, especially marginalized communities. WORKING PAPERS:

• Culturally Responsive Literacy Instruction: A Case Study of a Fe y Alegria School in Bolivia. Gates, T. & Purcell-Gates, V. Working Paper #21 21LiteracyBolivia