Pedagogical accompaniment in Peruvian Amazon: Conceptions, process and problems

In Peru, the census evaluations (ECE) of the Ministry of Education (MINEDU) show that few students of Intercultural Bilingual Education (EIB) in the Ucayali region reached the expected level in reading comprehension and math. In response to this critical situation, MINEDU implemented pedagogical accompaniment as a national strategy to improve school learning. However, after its implementation, there was no evidence of improvements in the learning achievements of children. In this context, a qualitative descriptive study was proposed, whose purpose was to understand the conceptions, process, and problems of the mentors of the Shipibo-Konibo and Asháninka peoples in their pedagogical accompaniment work. This study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, 10 EIB pedagogical mentors from the Shipibo-Konibo and Asháninka peoples in the province of Coronel Portillo participated in a group interview. In the second phase, three mentors from two Shipibo-Konibo communities participated. During this phase, the mentors were observed during their work in the classroom and accompaniment sessions and were then interviewed. The main results of the study showed that the mentors concluded that the accompaniment consists of assisting the teachers in their pedagogical work to facilitate better learning for the children. However, while the actions they took contributed to the pedagogical content necessary for teachers to fulfill their role, they were potentially undermining the trust relationships necessary for an optimal accompaniment process. Furthermore, it was found that the mentors followed the accompaniment protocol suggested by the MINEDU. The most significant issue identified was the perceived difficulty of accessing the communities where the teachers work, as many are located several days’ travel from the city of Pucallpa, where most of the mentors reside. This means that the mentors have to travel long distances to fulfill their accompaniment duties, with some having to travel by boat for up to three days. Additionally, the mentors reported issues with managing the accompaniment, such as not being paid on time, not receiving necessary materials, or not following work schedules. Many also reported that even when materials reach the communities, the teachers are not trained to use them, which leads to them not being utilized. Although the mentor was supposed to focus on supporting the teacher’s lesson planning, this left little time to focus on the themes that concerned the teacher or other formative aspects that were needed. It was also observed that the mentors focused on the difficulties teachers had in teaching, while ignoring the potentialities that these teachers could have for pedagogical practice. This article presents these and other findings about pedagogical accompaniment in this area and suggests the inclusion of a psycho-pedagogical perspective in the process.