Maria Jose Bermeo Valencia

The present study will examine how education policy related to the illicit drug economy is formulated and enacted in the Pacific border region of Ecuador and Colombia. Drawing on a comparative case study approach, the research will trace the production of educational drug policy through the intensive qualitative study of two local sites: a school in Tumaco, Nariño and a school in San Lorenzo, Esmeraldas. Through participant observation, semi-structured interviews and document analysis, the research will examine how educational actors in these two sites respond to the presence of the illicit drug trade and what policy their decision-making processes produce. It will also explore how school-level decision-making relates to other scales of education governance, such as the municipal, provincial/departmental, and national scales, and to transnational phenomena, such as the illicit drug economy, international drug policy, and bilateral cooperation efforts. This study will contribute to understanding of how education policy and practice intersects with drug policy, and how educational sites in the Pacific border region of Ecuador and Colombia are affected by, and respond to, the illicit drug trade in a context of shifting drug policies and security dynamics.

The present study will examine how education policy related to the illicit drug economy is formulated and enacted in the Pacific border region of Ecuador and Colombia. Drawing on a comparative case study approach, the research will trace the production of educational drug policy through the intensive qualitative study of two local sites: a school in Tumaco, Nariño and a school in San Lorenzo, Esmeraldas. Through participant observation, semi-structured interviews and document analysis, the research will examine how educational actors in these two sites respond to the presence of the illicit drug trade and what policy their decision-making processes produce. It will also explore how school-level decision-making relates to other scales of education governance, such as the municipal, provincial/departmental, and national scales, and to transnational phenomena, such as the illicit drug economy, international drug policy, and bilateral cooperation efforts. This study will contribute to understanding of how education policy and practice intersects with drug policy, and how educational sites in the Pacific border region of Ecuador and Colombia are affected by, and respond to, the illicit drug trade in a context of shifting drug policies and security dynamics.