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Challenges of working in undervalued technical schools

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Marta Cristina Azaola discusses the perceptions of technical high school tutors in Mexico about students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds in the context of global curriculum reforms and institutional hierarchies.

Image courtesy of interviewee. January 29, 2024

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This video video provides an overview of a study focusing on the high dropout and low graduation rates in upper secondary education in Mexico, highlighting the importance of school belonging and the quality of education. It emphasizes the role of tutors in influencing these factors, particularly in disadvantaged socioeconomic contexts.

The study conducted ethnographic research involving interviews with students and tutors across three different states in Mexico—Tijuana, Mexico City, and another unspecified city—focusing on perceptions of students from lower economic backgrounds in technical high schools.

Key findings include the perpetuation of deficit-based discourses about students from marginalized backgrounds, often viewing them as lacking aspirations and abilities. However, there were contrasting perceptions among tutors regarding their roles; some adopted a more supportive stance, while others reinforced stereotypes. The research suggests the need for education policies that prioritize both curricular changes and the socio-emotional aspects of schooling, focusing on how students are positioned within educational reforms.

Overall, the study concludes that educational outcomes are influenced not only by curriculum but also by the working conditions of tutors, institutional hierarchies, and the broader contexts in which students and tutors operate. It calls for further exploration of these dynamics to improve education for vulnerable students.

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X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

00:00.255 --> 00:03.715
Uh, the context of study is the upper secondary level in

00:03.715 --> 00:06.515
Mexico, which has dropped high dropout

00:06.575 --> 00:07.915
and low graduation rates.

00:08.495 --> 00:10.955
Uh, research evidence shows that,

00:11.095 --> 00:12.715
two related factors for this.

00:13.095 --> 00:14.755
One is a lack of school belonging,

00:14.815 --> 00:17.755
and another one is the poor quality of education.

00:18.455 --> 00:21.635
Um, whilst try to explain school dropout

00:22.195 --> 00:24.835
research has highlighted students' personal family

00:25.455 --> 00:27.555
and socioeconomic circumstances.

00:27.935 --> 00:30.875
Whilst few studies have focused on tutors

00:30.875 --> 00:33.835
as crucial actors on enhancing school belonging.

00:34.295 --> 00:38.155
Whilst it is important to formulate education policies

00:38.515 --> 00:42.315
that improve school dropout, we need to critically explore

00:42.415 --> 00:46.315
how tutors working conditions influence their teaching

00:46.635 --> 00:48.075
practice and their perception

00:48.075 --> 00:50.595
of students in socioeconomic disadvantaged schools.

00:51.305 --> 00:54.115
This study focuses on tutors perception

00:54.615 --> 00:56.115
of students from lower

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economic backgrounds in technical high schools from two

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of the largest public providers

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of technical education in Mexico.

01:04.225 --> 01:07.515
Technical schools generally have localization rates

01:07.655 --> 01:10.395
and are attended by students from lower socio economic

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backgrounds who tend to seek options

01:13.195 --> 01:15.715
that facilitate transition to the market

01:16.755 --> 01:17.875
socially and academically.

01:18.055 --> 01:20.435
And the reputation of technical schools is

01:20.715 --> 01:22.195
challenged globally as well.

01:22.485 --> 01:24.635
These schools are a usual option

01:24.655 --> 01:26.955
for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds

01:27.215 --> 01:28.395
and ethnic ethnic minorities.

01:28.655 --> 01:31.595
The paper explores two novel concept in education

01:32.255 --> 01:34.995
and the culture of poverty and cultural deficiency.

01:35.735 --> 01:37.555
The culture of poverty is the idea

01:37.555 --> 01:41.075
that poor people share consistent, unpredictable beliefs,

01:41.135 --> 01:42.475
values, and behaviors.

01:42.985 --> 01:46.515
This debate originated in the anti communist USA

01:46.575 --> 01:47.635
of the 1960s

01:48.255 --> 01:51.395
and portray the poor as unworthy and dysfunctional.

01:51.885 --> 01:55.995
Other teachers tend to focus on the supposedly lack

01:55.995 --> 01:57.555
of aspiration, moral

01:57.695 --> 02:00.475
and intellectual deficiencies of marginalized students.

02:01.265 --> 02:03.955
Even if the culture of poverty has been approved

02:03.955 --> 02:06.435
by research, it still falls true across

02:06.435 --> 02:07.715
many teaching practices.

02:08.555 --> 02:10.715
Cultural deficiency, on the other hand,

02:11.015 --> 02:12.915
is a constant association of poverty

02:13.145 --> 02:15.075
with educational under performance

02:15.365 --> 02:18.395
where students social context are understood

02:18.775 --> 02:20.595
as obstacles for teachers work.

02:21.025 --> 02:23.955
This study was part of an ethnographic field work

02:23.985 --> 02:28.155
that comprised 73 semi-structured interviews with students.

02:28.695 --> 02:31.635
22, some structured interviews with tutors

02:31.855 --> 02:34.595
and five focus groups with students apart from

02:35.475 --> 02:38.595
informal school observations, photographs, et cetera.

02:39.255 --> 02:43.115
And this happened in three different states of Mexico

02:43.305 --> 02:47.275
with very dissimilar economic and educational outcomes.

02:48.115 --> 02:51.235
Tijuana in the north of the country, Mexico City,

02:51.335 --> 02:53.875
and its metropolitan area in the center,

02:54.535 --> 02:57.915
and the city of the,

02:59.145 --> 03:03.245
The subset on which this study is based focuses on nine

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tutors, five of them females and four males.

03:07.345 --> 03:09.085
And tutors were selected

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because across the technical high schools

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that participated in the study, interesting patterns

03:14.725 --> 03:16.365
of ambiguous tutors.

03:16.365 --> 03:18.125
Student relationships were found

03:18.825 --> 03:22.605
as the finding similar experiences were observed across the

03:22.605 --> 03:23.925
three schools in relation

03:23.985 --> 03:26.405
to tutor San Diego's perception of students.

03:27.485 --> 03:30.845
Recurrent governments in Mexico in the n since the 1990s

03:31.155 --> 03:33.485
have implemented curricular models

03:33.745 --> 03:36.405
for technical high schools promoting

03:36.725 --> 03:37.965
constructivist approaches.

03:38.155 --> 03:42.405
However, different studies have shown concern about the lack

03:42.405 --> 03:45.565
of resources in the site of tutors

03:45.705 --> 03:49.365
and the readiness to effectively apply these to the changes.

03:50.115 --> 03:52.855
Tutors in this study were generally very critical

03:53.035 --> 03:55.695
of the top down implementation of the reforms.

03:56.245 --> 03:59.175
They would prefer curricula to be less ambitious

03:59.395 --> 04:01.095
and to guarantee the acquisition

04:01.115 --> 04:03.135
of basic knowledge among students.

04:03.955 --> 04:06.135
Tutors explain that they are required

04:06.235 --> 04:09.415
to keep evaluating students until they get a pass mark

04:09.475 --> 04:12.815
to avoid much as much sales as possible.

04:13.245 --> 04:16.575
According to them, disallowing fair masks have to do

04:16.575 --> 04:19.975
with budget constraints as fewer enrollments in further

04:20.655 --> 04:23.055
semesters will result in less government funding

04:23.155 --> 04:25.775
for those institutions, which would affect

04:26.595 --> 04:30.095
tutors already precarious working conditions and salaries.

04:31.365 --> 04:34.505
So in this study, the findings were characterized

04:34.565 --> 04:36.745
by contrast and complex realities.

04:37.315 --> 04:40.865
There seems to be uniformity on Twitter's perceptions about

04:40.925 --> 04:41.985
the impact on

04:42.365 --> 04:44.225
of students socioeconomic backgrounds

04:44.325 --> 04:45.505
on their academic abilities.

04:45.815 --> 04:49.385
However, there seems to be inconsistency in relation

04:49.385 --> 04:51.905
to tutor's perception of school basically,

04:52.245 --> 04:54.425
and their attitudes of empathy, trust,

04:54.485 --> 04:56.105
and encouragement about students.

04:56.805 --> 04:59.525
For example, some tutors believe

04:59.525 --> 05:03.365
that school progression is like process of presences,

05:03.425 --> 05:05.205
of natural selection, implying

05:05.205 --> 05:08.125
that some students are naturally more apt

05:08.125 --> 05:11.045
to survive in the school environment than others.

05:11.435 --> 05:15.165
However, other tutors believe that their role was

05:15.165 --> 05:16.525
to open the door for students.

05:16.755 --> 05:20.165
They were very hard to raise high, the high the name

05:20.165 --> 05:21.205
of their institutions

05:21.545 --> 05:23.525
and still pride amongst their students.

05:24.445 --> 05:27.785
So tutors showed that at two full capacity

05:28.005 --> 05:32.025
of reinforcing stereotypes of deficit in a reproductive way

05:32.485 --> 05:35.105
and challenging stereotypes commonly assigned

05:35.445 --> 05:37.785
to students from loss socio economic backgrounds

05:37.845 --> 05:38.945
in a progressive way.

05:39.825 --> 05:43.305
Tensions were even present within individual tutors

05:43.365 --> 05:47.865
who could either adopt a deficit based approach in different

05:47.895 --> 05:51.105
aspects of their teaching, whilst showing empathy

05:51.165 --> 05:53.505
to students, especially in relation

05:53.845 --> 05:56.545
to their socioeconomic conditions and future

05:56.685 --> 05:57.685
Expectations.

05:57.995 --> 05:59.125
What we found is that

05:59.125 --> 06:02.685
what has been missing from the recent curriculum reforms is

06:02.685 --> 06:05.645
the understanding that students' educational outcomes

06:05.825 --> 06:09.285
and overall educational experiences will not depend only on

06:09.285 --> 06:10.885
curriculum changes alone.

06:11.485 --> 06:15.205
Prioritizing curricula has a cured at the extent of theology

06:15.625 --> 06:16.725
and school belonging.

06:17.185 --> 06:18.645
We must critically explore

06:18.865 --> 06:21.845
how students are positioned within the discourse

06:21.865 --> 06:24.445
of the reforms and institute perceptions

06:24.865 --> 06:26.645
and daily teaching practices.

06:27.315 --> 06:30.605
Also, discourses of deficit in the literature need to be,

06:30.785 --> 06:35.565
we conceptualize to consider how institutional hierarchies

06:35.705 --> 06:38.805
and challenging working conditions influence the deficit

06:38.975 --> 06:41.445
discourses that tutors apply to their students.

06:42.135 --> 06:45.465
Another important conclusion is that deficit discourses

06:45.485 --> 06:49.185
and labels of vulnerable students are neither homogeneous

06:49.205 --> 06:51.345
nor permanent, as the findings

06:51.405 --> 06:53.945
of these studies show tutor's perceptions

06:53.945 --> 06:54.985
of students together

06:54.985 --> 06:57.465
with their teaching practices in disadvantaged schools

06:57.565 --> 07:00.785
reveal contrast and and contradictions.

07:01.565 --> 07:04.705
So tutors who work on their very challenging conditions

07:05.055 --> 07:06.985
with very high control from the top,

07:07.375 --> 07:11.785
very demanding administrative tasks for salary packages,

07:11.935 --> 07:15.345
unlimited teaching infrastructure, could also be regarded

07:15.365 --> 07:18.705
as subject of deficit from their own educational

07:18.735 --> 07:19.425
authorities.

00:00 - the context of study is the upper secondary level in Mexico, which has dropped high dropout and low graduation rates. research evidence shows that, two related factors for this. One is a lack of school belonging,

00:14 - and another one is the poor quality of education. whilst try to explain school dropout research has highlighted students' personal family and socioeconomic circumstances. Whilst few studies have focused on tutors as crucial actors on enhancing school belonging. Whilst it is important to formulate education policies that improve school dropout, we need to critically explore how tutors working conditions influence their teaching practice and their perception

00:48 - of students in socioeconomic disadvantaged schools. This study focuses on tutors perception of students from lower economic backgrounds in technical high schools from two of the largest public providers of technical education in Mexico. Technical schools generally have localization rates and are attended by students from lower socio economic backgrounds who tend to seek options that facilitate transition to the market

01:16 - socially and academically. And the reputation of technical schools is challenged globally as well. These schools are a usual option for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and ethnic ethnic minorities. The paper explores two novel concept in education and the culture of poverty and cultural deficiency. The culture of poverty is the idea that poor people share consistent, unpredictable beliefs,

01:41 - values, and behaviors. This debate originated in the anti communist USA of the 1960s and portray the poor as unworthy and dysfunctional. Other teachers tend to focus on the supposedly lack of aspiration, moral and intellectual deficiencies of marginalized students. Even if the culture of poverty has been approved by research, it still falls true across many teaching practices.

02:08 - Cultural deficiency, on the other hand, is a constant association of poverty with educational under performance where students social context are understood as obstacles for teachers work. This study was part of an ethnographic field work that comprised 73 semi-structured interviews with students. 22, some structured interviews with tutors and five focus groups with students apart from informal school observations, photographs, et cetera.

02:39 - And this happened in three different states of Mexico with very dissimilar economic and educational outcomes. Tijuana in the north of the country, Mexico City, and its metropolitan area in the center, and the city of the, The subset on which this study is based focuses on nine tutors, five of them females and four males. And tutors were selected because across the technical high schools that participated in the study, interesting patterns

03:14 - of ambiguous tutors. Student relationships were found as the finding similar experiences were observed across the three schools in relation to tutor San Diego's perception of students. Recurrent governments in Mexico in the n since the 1990s have implemented curricular models for technical high schools promoting constructivist approaches. However, different studies have shown concern about the lack

03:42 - of resources in the site of tutors and the readiness to effectively apply these to the changes. Tutors in this study were generally very critical of the top down implementation of the reforms. They would prefer curricula to be less ambitious and to guarantee the acquisition of basic knowledge among students. Tutors explain that they are required to keep evaluating students until they get a pass mark to avoid much as much sales as possible.

04:13 - According to them, disallowing fair masks have to do with budget constraints as fewer enrollments in further semesters will result in less government funding for those institutions, which would affect tutors already precarious working conditions and salaries. So in this study, the findings were characterized by contrast and complex realities. There seems to be uniformity on Twitter's perceptions about the impact on of students socioeconomic backgrounds

04:44 - on their academic abilities. However, there seems to be inconsistency in relation to tutor's perception of school basically, and their attitudes of empathy, trust, and encouragement about students. For example, some tutors believe that school progression is like process of presences, of natural selection, implying that some students are naturally more apt to survive in the school environment than others.

05:11 - However, other tutors believe that their role was to open the door for students. They were very hard to raise high, the high the name of their institutions and still pride amongst their students. So tutors showed that at two full capacity of reinforcing stereotypes of deficit in a reproductive way and challenging stereotypes commonly assigned to students from loss socio economic backgrounds in a progressive way.

05:39 - Tensions were even present within individual tutors who could either adopt a deficit based approach in different aspects of their teaching, whilst showing empathy to students, especially in relation to their socioeconomic conditions and future Expectations. What we found is that what has been missing from the recent curriculum reforms is the understanding that students' educational outcomes and overall educational experiences will not depend only on

06:09 - curriculum changes alone. Prioritizing curricula has a cured at the extent of theology and school belonging. We must critically explore how students are positioned within the discourse of the reforms and institute perceptions and daily teaching practices. Also, discourses of deficit in the literature need to be, we conceptualize to consider how institutional hierarchies and challenging working conditions influence the deficit

06:38 - discourses that tutors apply to their students. Another important conclusion is that deficit discourses and labels of vulnerable students are neither homogeneous nor permanent, as the findings of these studies show tutor's perceptions of students together with their teaching practices in disadvantaged schools reveal contrast and and contradictions. So tutors who work on their very challenging conditions with very high control from the top,

07:07 - very demanding administrative tasks for salary packages, unlimited teaching infrastructure, could also be regarded as subject of deficit from their own educational authorities.

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