Análisis del institucionalismo discursivo de la conciencia crítica y la acción social transformadora en colegios privados de Medellín

Abstract

This study examines how the institutional practices and discourses of private schools in Medellín influence the promotion of critical consciousness and transformative social action among students in basic and secondary education. The central objective is to understand how Institutional Educational Projects (IEPs) configure normative, pedagogical, and symbolic frameworks that may contribute both to the reproduction of social inequalities and to the formation of critical subjects committed to social transformation. Methodologically, the research adopts a qualitative approach based on documentary analysis of the IEPs of twenty-two private schools in the Metropolitan Area of the Aburrá Valley. The findings show that although IEPs frequently articulate notions such as holistic education, leadership, and critical thinking, these concepts are often presented in abstract and depoliticized ways. In most cases, critical thinking is conceived as an instrumental competence oriented toward academic performance, detached from a critical examination of power structures and social inequality. Likewise, a strong emphasis is placed on institutionalized and objectified cultural capital—such as certifications, bilingualism, infrastructure, and technology—which reinforces processes of symbolic distinction and the reproduction of privilege. Epistemological diversity and the incorporation of local, ancestral, or subalternized knowledges appear only marginally, revealing the predominance of Eurocentric and monocultural frameworks. It is concluded that the private schools analyzed tend to reproduce religious, conservative, and managerial–neoliberal discourses that limit the emancipatory potential of education. Nevertheless, discursive tensions are also identified that open possibilities for the incorporation of critical pedagogies, ecologies of knowledges, and social justice–oriented approaches. This study contributes to debates on private education in Latin America by highlighting the need to expand the political, epistemological, and formative dimensions of these institutions toward a more critical and socially committed education.