Other ways of schooling are possible

Abstract

It is well known that Latin America (LA) is diverse, but it is also one. It has certain characteristics that allow us to think of it as a “diverse unit”.  Something that identifies us as a region is the force of the popular field, their struggles, claims, and conquests regarding the colonial and capitalist powers. LA has maintained a position that far from being in a passive and submissive place against the "only option" imposed logics, has shown the power and the capacity to open new fields of experimentation, immerse, "on the edges" but resisting and re-existing.

The political, economic, social and cultural consequences relative to the implementation of neoliberal models have resulted in the growth of diverse expressions of collective actions of resistance and their alternatives. Standing from confrontation and at the same time creating projects that stress and dispute the central powers. 

We are particularly interested in dwelling on the educational dimension lead by these groups, as narratives based on the demands of historically neglected and postponed sectors, which raise debates around the meaning of the public, the state, the private and the popular. These groups have become actors in the public, national, regional, and international area, and they have not only generated "educational alternatives" (Puiggrós, 1990) they have also contributed to the revision of the pedagogical conditions that official school systems offer.

It is precisely the hypothesis that guides this article: these groups, in addition to building and sustaining alternative proposals to schooling, have the capacity to produce cracks, movements, alterations in the educational systems, particularly in their formats, oriented by search and advance towards plural schools with an inclusive and democratic sense. To analyze this, the voice of a particular regional actor will be risen: Coordinadora Latinoamericana de Organizaciones del Campo (CLOC).