Training teachers against racism on the northern border of Mexico: experiences and challenges

Abstract

The Forming for Peace workshop was designed with the aim of contributing to the elimination of racist and discriminatory behavior, under the premise of working towards the promotion of knowledge, communication, openness of ideas, and freedom of conscience, promoting the internalization of these values from formal education, through the implementation of pedagogical programs in schools and institutions of higher education. In a state characterized by constant migration, the relevance of the project is based on the reproductive and amplifying role of teachers - conceived as educational agents in their broadest sense - who have the ability to instill values of solidarity, empathy, and intercultural respect that contribute to the prevention of racism from an early age. The workshop comprises five modules and was implemented during the year 2022, in a post-pandemic framework of return to classrooms and exponential increase in the number of migrants arriving in the northern border of the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. In its first phase, it was taught to a total of 140 students from the bachelor’s programs in Preschool and Primary Education, who were encouraged to transfer the contents to their students in basic education to raise awareness about the need to eradicate racism at all levels and manifestations. The second phase, led by the students under the guidance of their teachers, included 1909 girls and boys studying in public schools in the preschool and primary levels in the municipality of Matamoros, Tamaulipas.