MEXICO
Totlahtol Yoltok
The Totlahtol Yoltok Teachers’ Collective was created in 2013 by secondary and university indigenous teachers belonging to the democratic National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE-SNTE) in the State of Veracruz, Mexico. Their goal is to recover the identity and traditions of the Nahua peoples and challenge the colonization of knowledge that for centuries has affected Mexican children and youth.
A partner since 2017, Totlahtol Yoltok creates alternative pedagogical proposals that recover and promote indigenous identities in the cognitive, cultural and pedagogical areas. Currently the teachers’ collective integrates a team of facilitators to receive training and research alternative proposals for different educational levels, based on an intercultural educational philosophy, which rescues ancestral knowledge by using the community and its members as the basis for content developed in the classroom. Teachers take actions to promote the values behind traditional agriculture, “Living Well” and raise awareness of gender-based violence.
The teaching model is called Intercultural Inductive Method by Jorge Gasche.
CoDev Program Area: Education — Research and Coalition Building
Canadian partner: BCTF
CMPIO
The Coalition of Teachers and Indigenous Promoters of Oaxaca (CMPIO), focuses on teacher training in indigenous education for members of Section 22 (Oaxaca) of the Mexican National Union of Education Workers (SNTE). CMPIO is also part of the Mexico National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE), the democratic faction of SNTE.
Through the “Nests of Magisterial Languages” project, CMPIO’s goal is to use the “Nests” concept for teacher professional development focused on developing language skills, promoting teacher self-esteem, and facilitating a knowledge-based dialogue between teachers and the communities they serve. CMPIO seeks to engage teachers in strengthening their work by working toward an alternative curriculum that responds to the communities needs.
CoDev Program Area: Education —
Canadian partner: BCTF