Mapuche Family Participation in Chilean Monocultural School EducationABSTRACT
Mapuche Family Participation in Chilean Monocultural School Education. The article explores the Mapuche family ties in the teaching and learning processes in the Chilean monocultural school. The methodology is qualitative and descriptive. Mapuche mothers participated and gave an account of the possibilities and limitations for their involvement in the school. The results show that Mapuche family participation is assumed from an administrative and accountability perspective. We conclude that Mapuche family participation is characterized by a lack of authentic involvement, limited to administrative aspects and the provision of resources. In addition, there is a lack of sociocultural relevance between school and community that prevents intercultural education.
Keywords
Parental Involvement; Intercultural Education; Rural School
RESUMEN
El artículo explora la vinculación familiar mapuche en los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje en la escue la monocultural chilena. La metodología es cualitativa de corte descriptivo, participaron madres mapuches quienes dan cuenta de posibilidades y limitaciones para su implicación en la escuela. Los resultados sostienen que la participación familiar mapuche se asume desde una mirada administrativa y de rendición de cuentas. Concluimos que la participación familiar mapuche se caracteriza por una falta de involucramiento auténtico, limitada a aspectos administrativos y de suministro de recursos. Además, de una ausencia de pertinencia sociocultural entre escuela-comunidad que impide una educación intercultural.
Palabras clave
Participación de los Padres; Educación Intercultural; Escuela Rural
Introduction
This article examines the varying levels of family involvement in children's education and explores how the institutional nature of schools defines this relationship from a hegemonic perspective. This issue is particularly significant in Indigenous contexts, such as those involving Mapuche communities, where schools operate within a monocultural framework that negates the epistemological foundations of students and their families (Arias-Ortega; Morales; Quintriqueo, 2025). Consequently, it is the families who are compelled to relinquish their educational, social, and cultural practices in order to adopt the pedagogical approaches prescribed by the official school curriculum, which are presented as the legitimate means to achieve academic success (Arias-Ortega; Samacá; Riquelme, 2025). Within this context, the relationship between family and school is challenged by the epistemic and cultural distance that separates their respective worldviews. Addressing this issue is essential, given the profound implications that family participation holds for the holistic education and development of children. In this regard, both international (Epstein et al., 2021; Epstein; Boone, 2022) and national scientific literature (Cárcamo; Barreta, 2020; Cárcamo; Jarpa-Arriagada, 2021; Fernández; Cárcamo-Vázquez, 2021; Castrillón-Correa et al., 2021) concur that family involvement plays a decisive role in ensuring students' academic achievement and overall educational success throughout their schooling processes (Bazán-Ramírez et al., 2022). Accordingly, collaboration between families and schools is understood as a fundamental component of children's educational development, given that both actors occupy complementary and interdependent roles in this process. On the one hand, families, through their parenting practices, transmit the social and cultural frameworks of Indigenous communities to younger generations. This transmission enables children to construct a strong sense of identity grounded in their own epistemic and cultural references, which subsequently interact with school-based logics in teaching and learning processes (Valer; Sánchez, 2023; Solórzano; Ramírez, 2024). The family, therefore, constitutes the primary educational environment and the main space for socialization, where children acquire the foundational elements for their personal and cognitive development (Bazán-Ramírez et al., 2022). This formative process is complemented by formal schooling, which provides instruction based on the academic knowledge outlined in the official curriculum.
In this context, the central issue lies in the fact that, within this type of educational relationship, families and schools are not necessarily interconnected. This disconnection adversely affects children’s cognitive and emotional development, as the ways of being and existing in the world that are transmitted during their primary socialization are rendered invisible within the school setting (Arias-Ortega; Blanco, 2024). Consequently, educational relationships in these contexts have historically been characterized by tension, since schools located in rural and Indigenous territories continue to bear the marks of the relationships established with Indigenous peoples since the colonial period. These relationships were shaped by processes of evangelization and the assimilation of Indigenous populations into the ideal of the "ordinary" Chilean citizen (Mansilla et al., 2022).
From this perspective, the problem addressed in this article can be examined through the lens of Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory of human development (Bronfenbrenner, 1987), as it provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the relationship between family and school and its influence on the holistic education of children. This theory posits that an individual’s development is shaped by the various systems with which they interact throughout their life course. Accordingly, establishing an effective connection between family and school would allow two of the most significant systems in a child's life to engage in a dialogical relationship that promotes mutual understanding and collaboration, thereby generating positive effects on students’ overall development. Within this theoretical framework, the family-school relationship can be analyzed across three interrelated levels. First, the microsystem refers to the child's immediate environment, which directly affects their worldview, adaptability, and identity formation. Second, the mesosystem encompasses the interactions among the child's immediate environments — such as family, cultural, and community contexts — and examines the extent to which these settings are interconnected and consistent with the child's sociocultural background. Finally, the macrosystem includes broader structures that indirectly influence the child's comprehensive development, such as economic conditions, political contexts, social structures, public policies, and the official school curriculum (Bronfenbrenner, 1985; 1987).
From this line of reasoning, the relationship between family and school exerts a direct influence on children’s educational processes. Nevertheless, tensions are often observed between these two actors due to their divergent educational perspectives (Arias-Ortega; Blanco, 2024), which emerge from the differing worldviews held by those within the educational system and those situated in broader social contexts. Strengthening the connection between family and school, therefore, presents an opportunity to advance in three key areas that are essential for the educational development of children and young people. First, continuous support refers to the idea that when families and schools share a common educational vision, students experience a coherent and sustained form of guidance, which enables them to engage consistently in both academic and daily activities. Second, consistency in information and expectations implies that students receive aligned messages and goals from both their families and their schools, facilitating progress toward clearly defined educational objectives under the guidance of the two primary agents in their lives. Third, enhancement of social and emotional skills suggests that a dialogical relationship between the family and the school fosters mutual understanding of students’ needs — whether educational, social, or emotional — and enables collaborative strategies to address them (Eslava; Fernández, 2020; Morales, 2020; González; Chao; Patiño, 2021). Such collaboration promotes an integrative educational approach that transcends academic instruction to encompass the social and emotional dimensions of student development.
Accordingly, the objective of this article is to present the findings of a study that examines the involvement of Mapuche families in the teaching and learning processes within monocultural Chilean schools.
Methodology
This study employs a descriptive qualitative approach, drawing on the narratives of Mapuche mothers to examine family involvement in the teaching and learning processes within Chilean monocultural schools. The research was conducted in three multigrade schools located in the La Araucanía region. These schools are characterized by small student enrollments and the presence of one or two teachers responsible for leading the teaching and learning processes across multiple grade levels within a single classroom. The study involved six Mapuche mothers, whose ages ranged from 38 to 59 years (see Table 1). It adopts a collective case study design, which entails a detailed and comprehensive analysis of multiple cases that share a common problem but arise from different contextual realities. In this design, each individual case functions as an instrument for understanding the broader phenomenon, as all are examined in relation to the same object of study (Creswell; Poth, 2016). This research design is particularly suited to exploring Mapuche family participation in teaching and learning processes across diverse territorial contexts. Its application is justified by its capacity to generate an in-depth understanding of complex and underexplored social phenomena, facilitating a nuanced examination of the interactions between cultural, educational, and contextual variables (Creswell; Poth, 2016).
The data collection instrument employed was a semi-structured interview, which explored three main areas: (1) educational experiences and expectations regarding their children's schooling, both in relation to the school context and to educational quality, particularly in terms of curriculum coverage and the quality of teacher-student-family relationships; (2) forms of communication and participation with the school, teachers, and administrators throughout their children's educational trajectories; and (3) perceived barriers and potential improvements in school education aimed at fostering greater family and teacher involvement in teaching and learning processes, both within and beyond the classroom. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis, a method that enables the inductive identification and interpretation of meanings and patterns emerging from participants' narratives concerning family-school relationships, thereby facilitating a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon under study (Braun; Clarke, 2023).
Operationally, the analysis followed a systematic and iterative process aimed at identifying, organizing, and interpreting the themes and patterns that emerged from the collected data (Mieles; Tonon; Alvarado, 2012). This process was carried out through the following stages: 1) Data preparation, which involved the transcription, transliteration, and refinement of participants' narratives to facilitate subsequent analysis. This stage also allowed for an initial engagement with, and familiarization with, both the explicit and latent content present in the participants' accounts (Mieles; Tonon; Alvarado, 2012); 2) Generation of codes, which entailed a collaborative reading among the researchers to conduct a detailed and in-depth examination of the data. This process involved identifying and highlighting key words, phrases, or ideas that captured the principal themes and meanings expressed in participants' discourse (Braun; Clarke, 2023).
In this stage, the identification and construction of data segments were formalized into descriptive labels that represented significant concepts to explain the phenomenon under study; 3) Identification of themes, which consisted of grouping related codes into broader categories that reflected recurring patterns or salient meanings within the data. These themes were generated inductively from the participants' narratives, thereby capturing the meanings they ascribed to the phenomenon (Braun; Clarke, 2023); 4) Review and refinement of themes, which involved revisiting and deepening the interpretation of the identified themes to ensure their internal consistency and representativeness.
This step included the merging, modification, or subdivision of categories as needed to better reflect the complexity of the phenomenon (Mieles; Tonon; Alvarado, 2012); 5) Definition and naming of themes, which required developing precise and concise descriptions that captured the essence and significance of each theme, enabling a clear understanding of their contribution to the object of study, and 6) Report writing, which entailed presenting the results of the thematic analysis through a detailed description of the identified themes, supported by illustrative excerpts from the data, and a discussion of their relevance to the research problem (Braun; Clarke, 2023).
In addition to the aforementioned elements, the study incorporated criteria of scientific rigor, which are associated with truthfulness, transferability, dependability, and confirmability (Bravo; Osorio, 2017; Freire, 2020). The criterion of truthfulness involves establishing a methodological pathway that enables other researchers interested in the same phenomenon to obtain comparable results or draw similar conclusions (Bravo; Osorio, 2017). Its operationalization entailed the development of a detailed methodological design, the explicit documentation of decisions made throughout the research process, and the application of expert-validated techniques and instruments for data analysis by the research team. The criterion of transferability refers to the extent to which the study's findings can be applied or adapted to other contexts and participants with similar characteristics (Bravo; Osorio, 2017).
In this study, it was operationalized through a rich and contextualized description of the findings, thereby allowing readers to assess their applicability and relevance in other settings. With regard to dependability, this criterion seeks to ensure that the study's assumptions, objectives, and lines of reasoning remain coherent and do not contradict one another without adequate justification (Bravo; Osorio, 2017). This was operationalized through continuous discussions with the research team and field experts during the data analysis process, as well as through explicit documentation and justification of any apparent inconsistencies in the data.
Finally, the criterion of confirmability concerns the researcher's ability to faithfully represent the participants’ perceptions and experiences, ensuring that the collected data are not influenced by the researcher's personal motivations, interests, or perspectives (Bravo; Osorio, 2017; Freire, 2020). This criterion was operationalized through data triangulation and the use of validation techniques with participants to corroborate the authenticity and credibility of the interpretations. Ethical considerations included obtaining informed consent from all participants, in addition to securing approval from the ethics committee of the research team’s affiliated institution.
Results and Discussion
The thematic analysis of the semi-structured interviews conducted with Mapuche mothers regarding family bonding processes within the teaching and learning context of the monocultural Chilean school revealed three central themes. The first theme pertains to the factors that limit family participation in educational processes, particularly those associated with ethnic shame. This sentiment has been historically constructed within the Mapuche subject since the periods of colonization, independence, and continuing into the present. Over time, the Mapuche have developed a self-image shaped by the treatment and social recognition they have historically received—one that has positioned them as inferior within Chilean society. This positioning, grounded in social injustice, continues to persist today. Such practices of racism and discrimination have become normalized in broader society and, consequently, have also permeated the school environment. The school, understood as a device of social reproduction, often reproduces and legitimizes prevailing biases, stereotypes, and the dominant culture, thereby marginalizing Indigenous epistemologies and experiences.
The second theme concerns the conceptualization of participation and involvement as primarily administrative in nature. Within this framework, family participation is reduced to compliance with institutional regulations and obligations imposed by the school, such as fulfilling administrative requirements, providing information, and contributing economic resources. These forms of participation, while present, represent a limited and instrumental view of family involvement that restricts the potential for developing culturally relevant education. Moreover, this limited engagement constrains genuine participation in pedagogical, didactic, and methodological dimensions of schooling—dimensions that are essential for fostering an education that strengthens sociocultural identity and promotes the formation of intercultural citizens committed to equitable and holistic educational processes, as well as to the construction of a society oriented toward collective well-being. Finally, the third theme relates to values education, which is primarily developed within the family and community educational frameworks. These frameworks emphasize the cultivation of respect, reciprocity, and communal responsibility as guiding principles of children’s formation. However, such values are often absent or invisible within the formal school curriculum, which continues to operate from a monocultural perspective that overlooks the ethical and relational dimensions central to Mapuche education.
Ethnic Shame as a Limitation to Engagement in Teaching and Learning
An analysis of the participants' testimonies identifies ethnic shame as a central factor limiting the strengthening of family-school engagement. Ethnic shame is understood as the experience of discomfort or embarrassment associated with the expression of one’s cultural identity, arising from the historically discriminatory relationships that minority groups, including Indigenous and rural populations, have faced in broader society, which have instilled in them a perception of lower social value (Arias-Ortega; Blanco, 2024). This ethnic shame constitutes a significant barrier to mothers' engagement in teaching and learning processes, affecting both communication with school authorities and teachers, as well as their self-perception regarding contributions to their children’s intellectual development. These limitations often stem from a perceived lack of knowledge or mastery of the school curriculum.
Within Mapuche families, ethnic shame has been historically reinforced by Chilean monocultural school practices, which manifest in discrimination, stereotyping, and the failure to recognize Indigenous epistemologies within the classroom. This legacy has been transmitted across generations (Hofflinger; Nahuelan, 2021). Ethnic shame may lead to self-stigmatization, fear of rejection, and anxiety regarding perceived difference, which in turn negatively affects parental participation in school activities, academic support, and sense of belonging to the educational community (Cuevas; Carrillo, 2020). Consequently, ethnic shame functions as a substantial obstacle to the involvement of Mapuche mothers in the school environment, thereby influencing the academic and educational outcomes of their children. Consistently, participants reported limited involvement in teaching and learning processes, often due to a lack of knowledge regarding the school curriculum. This uncertainty leads them to defer educational responsibilities to teachers. Additionally, participants indicated feelings of embarrassment when seeking clarification or assistance, particularly when they did not understand the technical or specialized language used by teachers. One participant stated:
Many times as parents, we limit ourselves or feel embarrassed when asking for help, because I don't understand the teacher's point; she speaks in a convoluted way [with technical knowledge], so why would I go and ask her if I look stupid? (Mother 2, Trumpulo).
This testimony reflects a communication barrier between teachers and parents, arising from the use of technical and pedagogical terminology that may be inaccessible to those without formal training. Such barriers can inhibit parental participation and even result in unintentional exclusion, fostering negative emotions such as shame and discouraging parents from engaging in their children’s educational processes. The participants’ accounts also reveal educational power dynamics between parents and teachers, wherein parents perceive an asymmetry in knowledge and skills that generates insecurity and fear of being judged as "incompetent" (Incacutipa, 2021).
This perception can lower parents’ self-esteem and reduce their confidence in advocating for their children's educational needs. In conclusion, the testimonies underscore the necessity of promoting open, accessible, and culturally responsive communication between schools and families. Teachers must adapt their language to ensure comprehension, while educational institutions should provide resources and support to facilitate meaningful parental participation in the teaching and learning processes.
Family Bonding from a Functionalist and Administrative Approach
From a functionalist perspective, family-school bonding is conceptualized as a mechanism aimed at maintaining and reproducing the norms and interests deemed appropriate by the monocultural Chilean school, as a representative of the State (Muñoz, 2021). Within this framework, the family is regarded primarily as an agent responsible for complying with norms unilaterally established by the school, without significant input from the family environment. Consequently, the school assumes the leadership of the teaching and learning process, providing the academic knowledge and skills necessary for successful participation in a hegemonic society (Zapata, 2022). In this context, the functionalist link between family and school emphasizes coherence and continuity in the transmission of dominant values and knowledge, as well as the reinforcement of social stability and cohesion by preparing individuals to fulfill productive roles within mainstream society. This approach generally disregards the cultural reference frames that students bring with them, which are often expected to be set aside during formal schooling (Arias-Ortega; Morales; Quintriqueo, 2025).
The participants' testimonies indicate that family involvement in the educational process is understood as a high level of commitment. However, when examining how this participation is enacted, it primarily manifests as compliance with requests from the school. One participant noted:
I participate in my children's education. I check their notebooks every day, he has to read something to me every day, I worry about his backpack every day. Here, I'm always worried about that. I'm very persistent about that, and the teacher here knows it (Mother 5, Repocura Alto).
This testimony illustrates a limited form of participation, focused mainly on tasks such as reviewing notebooks, ensuring daily reading, and monitoring school materials. While these activities contribute to the oversight of academic progress and the care of school materials, they do not encompass the broader scope of educational engagement. Effective family participation should also address the holistic development of the child, including emotional well-being, social skills, autonomy, and critical thinking (Parody et al., 2019). Education extends beyond the completion of schoolwork; it also involves fostering curiosity, critical reflection, and social competencies. Broader participation can be achieved through activities that create a supportive learning environment at home, such as meaningful dialogue, shared reading, collaborative educational experiences, and creative or recreational activities that strengthen parent-child bonds, aligned with the Indigenous family’s own educational practices. Moreover, the use of the term "persistent" to describe the father’s insistence may indicate an approach that could generate stress or pressure for the child. It is essential for parents to balance guidance and support with sensitivity to their child’s emotional state, ensuring that encouragement does not become a source of anxiety or unrealistic expectations regarding academic performance.
In this same sense, the analysis of mothers' testimonies reveals that the perceived ‘high’ level of connection is also reflected in their participation in extracurricular or cultural activities. In these spaces, they typically act as listeners and/or spectators, assuming they have fulfilled their role by purchasing or preparing the educational materials requested by the school. Nevertheless, the activities continue to be primarily led by teachers, with families largely limited to fulfilling requests. One testimonial illustrates this point:
In the same activities, just now when the Mapudungun was celebrated, now for the 18th, activities are being planned, the availability of parents to participate... not everyone participates, but many do, the clothes they ask for, the food they have to bring, I am always there (Mother 4 Dewme).
This narrative demonstrates that family participation is largely restricted to attending school-offered activities and providing material support, which remains largely confined to recreational or celebratory contexts. Another testimony reinforces this observation:
[I connect] by being here at the events, when the children have to perform a play, they have to dance, the family always supports the costumes, being here for the activities. Now that the 18th is coming up, we're going to do activities, and the family will be there supporting them. (…) The responsibility, the fact that he has to come to class, be responsible, bring his materials, be here and pay attention, study (Mother 6, Repocura Alto).
The analysis of these testimonies indicates that families are actively engaged in cultural and folkloric events, which contributes positively to the preservation and appreciation of Indigenous cultural identity within the school setting. However, this involvement appears to be largely limited to traditional and festive events of a hegemonic nature and does not seem to extend meaningfully to the cognitive or intellectual development of children. Considering that education encompasses more than participation in folkloric events and requires sustained engagement in children's learning and holistic development (Arias-Ortega; Samacá; Riquelme, 2025), it is imperative to expand the scope of family-school connections. This could include activities that promote children's intellectual and cognitive growth, such as reading, exploration of new knowledge and skills, and support with homework (Stacheira et al., 2020; Muñoz; Thibaut, 2022). In this regard, another testimony adds:
For example, I help my son with his Spanish workshops. I don't know, I help him find an activity, gather materials, make a video. I help him with those kinds of things because I don't understand the material he's studying. I'm bad at math, so why would I help him with that? He'd just get failing grades (Mother 1, Trumpulo).
In this regard, another testimony adds:
I make sure my child does his homework and has his materials. I think that's the way to help students, to be concerned about their needs (…) Uh, being here at the events, when the children have to do a play, they have to dance, the family always provides support with the costumes, being here for the activities (Mother 3, Dewme).
These testimonies reflect a fragmented and superficial form of family participation in the educational sphere, in which attendance at folkloric events is prioritized over a sustained commitment to children's cognitive and intellectual development. While the appreciation of culture is valuable, the lack of emphasis on the educational dimension is concerning from both academic and social perspectives. Limited involvement in more substantive educational activities may negatively affect children's learning and development, potentially reinforcing existing inequalities in access to quality education and academic success (Epstein et al., 2021). Consequently, a gap becomes evident between the valuation of cultural heritage and the recognition of education as a central component of holistic development—encompassing cognitive, emotional, and sociocultural dimensions. It is therefore imperative that families acknowledge the importance of more committed and active participation in their children's education to foster equitable opportunities and support their full development across the lifespan.
Family-School Connection: Value-Based Education to Support the Educational Process
According to their own accounts, the connection between family and school in the teaching and learning processes is primarily strengthened in the area of values, rather than in knowledge acquisition or intellectual development, which families perceive themselves as lacking mastery of. Nevertheless, their commitment and support are strongly grounded in fostering the development of well-rounded individuals who are respectful and willing to learn. From the family perspective, Mapuche mothers identify two primary areas in which this occurs.
First, families seek to convey, to the extent possible, a recognition of sociocultural identity by transmitting fundamental values within Mapuche culture, such as respect for elders, appreciation of community, solidarity, reciprocity, and spirituality. These efforts aim to support the comprehensive development of children and young people (Williamson, 2012). Based on the mothers' testimonies, this process complements and reinforces the formal schooling experiences of their children. One mother notes:
Encouraging the child to participate in school, to come to school, and to show respect again because every morning you tell them to behave, listen to the teacher, do your homework, I also think it helps (Mother 2, Trumpulo).
Similarly, another mother emphasizes ongoing engagement despite the challenges of adolescence:
Oh! In the way I can [I help], unfortunately, they are in adolescence where they are rebellious and think they know everything, and it's hard for them to take you seriously […] but I talk to him every day, we talk to him every day, we explain things to him every day, I review his guides every day, I sit with him to study, I review them, eh […] if there's something wrong, that I know is wrong, I tell him, he sees it wrong, we do it again (Mother 4, Dewme).
A second form of family-school connection relates to the education of children and young people with a strong emphasis on teaching respect for others. In this regard, one testimony illustrates how families integrate moral and social guidance into everyday interactions:
[I teach him] respect, to love himself. His father always tells him that he can have many friends, but real friends are those who take care of you, not those who get you into trouble or force you to do things you don't want to do (…) We talk to him about drugs, we talk to him about sex, because he's at an age where at fourteen, children are already having raging hormones. We talk to him about his sexuality: whether he can be bisexual, he can be homosexual, he can be whatever he wants to be, but he must respect himself and others (Mother 6, Repocura Alto).
According to this testimony, it is possible to infer a positive approach that emphasizes the importance of teaching fundamental values such as self-respect and respect for others, as well as the importance of genuine friendship and mutual care. Furthermore, it allows us to visualize how Mapuche family education addresses sensitive topics such as drug use and sexuality in an open and understanding manner, recognizing the need to provide information and guidance to adolescent children. Another testimony from the mothers emphasizes the need to educate children from an early age with a strong social commitment, which implies becoming aware of the actions and deeds they themselves perform, as they are their children's role models. In this regard, she mentions:
We teach our children the old-fashioned way, to be responsible with their homework, with their teachers, with the assistants, and with the people around them. That’s the main thing we try to guide them on at home. Respect for others is also very important. If they respect me, I have to respect them too. Nowadays, people focus more on rights than on duties (…). It’s important to teach children values, like respect, because if I tell them at home, ‘Don't hang out with this kid because they’re different, or because they’re Mapuche, or whatever,’ that’s how discrimination starts. As parents, we need to show children that we’re all equal. We may have differences, but we should always respect each other (Mother 5, Repocura Alto).
In short, based on the testimonies of Mapuche mothers, it is possible to maintain that one of the ways they connect with their children's school education is by providing them with support and education at home, based on the formation of a family education sustained by values and being good people, respectful of themselves and the people around them.
Conclusions
The research findings indicate that several key factors influence family engagement in the teaching and learning process. The testimonies highlight the need to address communication barriers and power dynamics that may limit parental participation in school activities, emphasizing the importance of fostering an inclusive and collaborative educational environment where all stakeholders feel valued and empowered to contribute to students' academic success. Furthermore, the findings reveal that family involvement in the educational process, particularly in socially and culturally diverse contexts such as those of the Mapuche, has often been critiqued for its predominant focus on folkloric and cultural activities. While cultural engagement is valuable, this limited participation may impede children’s cognitive and emotional development. Consequently, it is essential to recognize and promote active, meaningful, and sustained family involvement in education to support comprehensive, equitable, and holistic learning outcomes.
In this context, and based on the research findings, we propose several courses of action aimed at promoting family-school ties. The first level of approach includes the following strategies: 1) Promoting collaboration between the educational community and Mapuche families in the territory, assuming a commitment to sociocultural and territorial issues. This involves jointly developing culturally relevant educational resources and valuing intangible materials, such as natural spaces, as living learning laboratories. It also entails recognizing and leveraging families’ cultural knowledge and experiences to support the holistic development of children and young people; 2) Developing training programs for parents and educators that focus on effective family engagement strategies. Such programs would foster mutual understanding of both school culture and familial cultural practices, establishing relationships of respect and trust; 3) Creating spaces for intercultural dialogue in which Mapuche families and schools can share knowledge, traditions, and experiences. This would strengthen students’ cultural identity and promote an inclusive, respectful educational environment; 4) Designing educational activities that integrate Mapuche knowledge into the school curriculum, not as an add-on, but as a meaningful framework for understanding and deepening lifelong learning. Within this approach, the concept of "coming and going"—central to Indigenous philosophies—becomes a tool for co-constructing knowledge and cultivating individuals who continually learn and evolve. This strategy allows children to receive a culturally relevant education that reflects their context and epistemic frameworks, while preserving Indigenous cosmogony and worldview for future generations, and 5) Promoting the development of cognitive and emotional skills through activities that encourage creativity, critical thinking, empathy, and teamwork, both at school and at home, with a focus on sociocultural relevance.
We argue that the implementation of these actions will not only strengthen the bond between family and school but also contribute to the comprehensive development of Mapuche children, enhancing their cultural identity, emotional well-being, and academic success1.
Acknowledgments
this work was supported by Fondecyt Regular Project No. 1240540, funded by the National Agency for Research and Development of Chile (ANID – MILENIO – NCS2025_021), and by the Postdoctoral Project, funded by the Research, Innovation, and Creation Center (CIIC) at the Universidad Católica de Temuco.
Availability of research data
the dataset supporting the results of this study is published in this article.
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