Conducting ‘fieldwork research’ over different periods during the past four years in Bolivia as a young, Dutch female has been a daring, exiting, challenging and rewarding experience. When I first set foot on Bolivian soil in June 2002, the country made an everlasting impression with its extreme climates and landscapes, politics being played out in the streets, a chaotic infrastructure and high altitude together with an incredible variety of peoples and cultures. The daily battle against poverty and struggles for social justice were then, as they are now, highly visible in the streets of Bolivia’s large cities and small villages. It was during this travel that I decided to focus my further studies on understanding these structures of inequality and people’s struggles against it. Inspired by critical thinkers such as Freire and Sousa Santos, it is my conviction that education – and particularly educators – can pursue a ‘practice of freedom’, and make a difference towards more just societies. This thesis is dedicated to understanding the potentials, difficulties and limitations to Bolivian teachers being agents of change, with a particular focus on the role of teacher education institutes.