Inclusive education in Colombian rural area schools

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the current state of pedagogical strategies with
an inclusive perspective implemented in rural contexts between 2020 and 2025, based
on the analysis of the educational challenges faced by the San José de Loma Verde
school located in Montería, Córdoba. Through a review of specialized literature in
journals indexed in databases, categories such as teacher training, inclusive education,
and pedagogical strategies are explored, revealing a critical gap between the national
regulatory framework and the local reality. The main arguments show that inclusion in
rural areas is limited and depends on isolated efforts, facing an “exclusionary-inclusion”
that renders local knowledge invisible. The analysis underscores that, while Universal
Design for Learning is a well-founded framework, its implementation in the rural area
requires curricular flexibility and teacher training grounded in identity and
interculturality. The study concludes that the meaning of inclusion must transcend
documentary rhetoric to become institutionalized through flexible school management.
The key contribution lies in proposing a community-based educational approach as the
cornerstone of social justice, in which rural schools serve as laboratories for innovation
that ensure the right to a quality education free from geographical isolation.