This is the first of three volumes devoted to analysing the education policies of five Latin American countries (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru) from the perspectives of pertinence, co-existence and a sense of belonging.

This volume opens with a contextual analysis of education policies, particularly those alluding explicitly to interculturality, from the perspective of their historical trajectory, and the legal and constitutional framework within which they unfold. It then moves on to analyse education policies at three different levels: i) curricular policies, basic and middle education curricula, and school textbook policies; ii) policies covering initial and continuing education, and laws and regulations that regulate and enhance teachers’ working conditions; iii) and, school management policies including financing (criteria used to define subsidies), and local school management (participation of parents and community stakeholders).

There follows an analysis of how these policies have been implemented in order to determine how wide a gap there is between the elaboration of intercultural programmes and the everyday reality of the school. Lastly, the volume concludes by typifying schools according to the characteristics they would have if they embraced a “cultural discrimination” or a “cultural pluralism” paradigm, and briefly outlining the major findings emerging from this five country study.

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