Chilean society has experienced ongoing social movements demanding socio-political changes since the collapse of the Pinochet dictatorship in 1990 (Cox et al., 2022). The radical neoliberal education model introduced during the dictatorship took on a laboratory policy format where Chile was “fundamental for the development and transfer of neoliberal policies around the world" (Inzunza et al., 2019, p. 490). While much has been written about student movements against the neoliberal privatisation of education in Chile (e.g., Bellei et al., 2014), less attention has been given to teacher activism around similar educational matters. Current research on teacher activism tends to be small-scale and interview-based, using an implicit understanding of social justice. This doctoral research operationalises activist research to move beyond traditional Western research methodologies by co-theorising with teacher participants.

This research explores the relationship between Chilean teachers' social activism and their pedagogical work towards social justice. The key research question is: How is social justice pursued by school-teachers through pedagogic and activist work in Chile? It is supported by three sub-questions: (1) Why do teachers become activists, and how does their activist work maintain and change over time? (2) How is teacher activism for social justice expressed inside and outside the classroom? (3) What is activist research and how can it be enacted with teachers who identify as activists? […]