Envisioning Pre-service English teacher education in Colombia as political action

Abstract

This reflective article explores the need to revise the education of pre-service English teachers to place critical and political dimensions as central components in the education of future teachers. The author presents a brief critical overview of some key historical events in Colombia that have taken place mainly during the last sixty years. Two national educational proposals that aim to promote peaceful human relations and knowledge of the country’s historically violent past (Cátedra para la Paz and Estándares de Competencias Ciudadanas) are also described. Two complementary approaches to English teacher education are discussed as possible alternatives to enacting teacher education from a political and critical stance (Teacher Education for Social Justice and Critical Teacher Education). Finally, three trends in English teaching and research in Colombia are described as a way to illustrate some of the ways in which different scholars have enacted English teaching as part of a political and critical endeavor. The author concludes that in order to contribute to a more just, equitable, and peaceful country, pre-service English teacher programs must prepare prospective teachers committed to a process of social, cultural, and political transformation of the local realities of Colombia.