Teachers pro and con: Neoliberal educational reform in a rebellious and disadvantaged context

This article explores how the implementation of the education reform led by the federal government in México (2012-2018) took place in rural disadvantaged contexts and, specifically, in schools where an anti-establishment union movement has been developing for several decades. Based on semi-structured interviews and classroom-focused ethnographic analysis at 22 of 100 schools included in an official innovation project, we gleaned that dissident teachers adopted a somewhat flexible and tolerant stance regarding the official project. We gathered evidence about teachers’ endeavour to learn a new educational planning strategy and enhance the students’ digital skills promoted by the project. In contrast, they kept participating in public manifestations against the education reform. Regardless of how pragmatic this solution could be, the teachers’ reflections in the interviews interestingly lay out how their struggle takes part in an ongoing state formation process and their position in the face of social inequality. We conclude that teachers consider the community context of deprivation and violence in willingly accepting the implementation of the Project.