Constanza Andrea Cardenas Alarcon
2805800c@student.gla.ac.uk
https://orcid.org/0000000262675404
Research title: Curriculum circles: a proposal for curriculum making in Chile
Research Summary
I am interested in how education can be built in a social justice and equity framework.
Specifically, I use the concept of inclusive education to name this aspiration connected
with a political and ethical project of dismantling exclusion. In that regard, and due to their
influence on educational change, I am particularly interested in teachers' work and how
they can change the educational experience for all students from the lens of curriculum
studies. Thus, I use a conceptualization of curriculum beyond the prescriptions and
standardization as an activity-oriented issue that involves the actors involved in it, such as
teachers, and the consideration of the context and the available resources for its
development.
During these two years of my PhD, I have worked on the idea of inclusive curriculum-
making, intending to connect inclusive education as a political project with a broader idea
of curriculum as an ongoing phenomenon. I am especially interested in inclusive
curriculum-making at the school level. Namely, collective teachers work to reflect and act
on their practice, planning, and curriculum events and pedagogy in the classrooms.
Curriculum Circles
My study is participatory action research, and it is conducted in two public Chilean schools for an
academic semester using the vein of teacher enquiry. In that regard, my study considers
curriculum-making as a social practice involving different activities undertaken by many
actors (Priestley et al., 2021). Taking the work of Drew et al. (2016) my study design
involves three stages. Namely, focusing on where we will discuss exclusion situations,
identifying issues to change, interrupting in which we will create resources and
pedagogical materials to achieve these issues, and making sense to assess and reflect on
what we did.
The study involves weekly meetings with teachers have been called Curriculum Circles due to
Freire’s influence and inspiration as a space of dialogue and co-construction, highlighting
also the political sense of education connected with educational proposals.
The research methods include field notes, semi-structured interviews, focus groups and
teachers' journals.
Publications
Herrera-Seda, C., Cárdenas, C., Fernández, R. (2024). Hacia el corazón del liderazgo docente: Experiencias de Colaboración en tiempos de COVID-19. Perspectiva Educacional, 63(1), 165-189. https://dx.doi.org/10.4151/07189729-Vol.63-Iss.1-Art.1512
Cárdenas, C. A., Herrera-Seda, C. M., Fuentes Sepúlveda, J., & Torres-Contreras, H. (2023). “El contexto te lo requiere”: Pandemia, agencia docente e inclusión en Chile. Psicoperspectivas (Valparaiso), 22(2). https://doi.org/10.5027/psicoperspectivas-Vol22-Issue2-fulltext-2887
Cárdenas, C., Guerrero, S., Johnson-Mardones, D. (2021). Construir currículum desde abajo: avanzando en la documentación de una propuesta curricular en el contexto del COVID-19. Educación, 30(58), 34-58. https://doi.org/10.18800/educacion.202101.002
Guerrero Lacoste, S., & Cárdenas Alarcón, C. (2021). El quiebre en la autopista educativa: ¿un currículum para seguir sin parar o para cambiar de rumbo? Revista Enfoques Educacionales, 18(2), 144-165. https://doi:10.5354/2735-7279.2021.65053
Supervisors
External supervisors
Dr Mark Priestley
Grants
Student Fieldwork Enhancement Grant awarded by the British Association of International and Comparative Education (BAICE) (2024)
BECAS CHILE Scholarship awared by National Agency of Innovation and Development (ANID) (2022)
Magíster Nacional Scholarship awared by National Comission of Technology and Scientific Research (CONICYT) (2019)
Teaching
PhD tutor. University of Glasgow, the United Kindom (2023-2024)
School of Modern Languages and Cultures. Course: Spanish for non- beginners.
School of Education. Course: The Learner and the Curriculum
Part time teacher. University of Santiago of Chile, Chile (2019-2021)
Courses: Special Educational Needs workshop
Design of learning experiences for diverse classrooms
Contributions of Universal Design of Learning for inclusive education
Language teaching from an inclusive perspective.