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CHILE
in the
Nineties
CHILE
Editors
CRISTIÁN TOLOZA
EUGENIO LAHERA
Editors
CRISTIÁN TOLOZA
EUGENIO LAHERA
in the
Nineties
The New Challenge:
Quality and Equity in Education
Isidora Mena
Cristian Belleï
Introduction1
The modernization of educational institutions in the 1990s has brought about a
significant cultural shift. At the heart of this shift lies an unprecedented surge
in knowledge and learning which has reached all corners of the globe through
technology. The generation and use of this knowledge and learning has become vital to
countries seeking to develop, to organizations looking to maintain leadership positions
in their respective sectors, and to individuals who want to lead successful personal and
civic lives.
For these reasons, the educational system has become central to modern societies and
therefore is an institution which governments, businesses, and families constantly seek to
improve. Indeed, educational reform is a hot topic in every region of the world.
The proposals designed by the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin
America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the United Nations’ Education, Science, and
Culture Committee (UNESCO) coherently outline the program for “a new style in educa-
tion reform” for the region. This model has two primary objectives: to develop human
resources to better utilize science and technology, with the aim of making the region’s
countries more competitive; and to make individuals capable of grasping “modern citi-
zenship,” in which citizens are able to function in a society which is democratic, techno-
logically sophisticated, and based on information and communication.
In general terms, three periods in the development of Chile’s educational system can
be identified. The initial period was marked by the challenge of creating a system in which
all students were covered and which could absorb new students. The second was con-
cerned with modernizing administration, optimizing the use of financial resources, and
decentralizing the organizational structure. In the 1990s, the third stage has been marked
by the attempt to ensure that all students, independent of their socioeconomic position,
get the most out of their education. In this last stage, the quality-equity2issue has become
1 We would like to thank Ivan Núñez for his valuable commentary.
2 In this paper, equity refers to equal opportunity in education.
essential. Moving to the third stage does not imply that the other stages have been success-
fully completed. Quite often the later stages add to or complicate the issues dealt with in
the earlier stages.
In Chile, satisfying the demands of educational reform in the early 1990s implied
three challenges: fulfilling the goals of the early stages (such as total coverage and reten-
tion) even while focusing on the issues of the later stages; replenishing deficits that result-
ed from educational deterioration during the military government; and perfecting the
decentralization plan, which focused on quality-equity issues, beginning in the 1980s.
The fundamental goal of education policy in the 1990s has been to improve the quali-
ty of individual student’s experiences and to distribute these experiences more equitably.
The motto “High Quality Education For All Students” synthesizes the Concertación’s3
education policy. With this focus on quality education, government policy seeks to
improve the system’s structure, management, and use of resources.
With this in mind, the reform program is distinguished by its focus on the schools
themselves. The reform’s central aim is to direct resources to the exact “contact point,”
where students actually learn. This focus on learning reflects the novelty and, ultimately,
the strength of the educational reform. However, it also makes it highly complex. The edu-
cational reform does not depend on the dictates of policy makers, but rather on a diverse
group of committed citizens and groups.
The thesis of this article is to provide a perspective on the new challenges that have
arisen out of the educational reform carried out by the Concertación administrations from
1990 to 1996 and its quality-equity premise. We seek to critically analyze the reform’s
advances and limitations.
The first section of this essay examines what has been called “the heart of education
reform”: the various Improvement Programs designed and implemented by the Ministry
of Education aimed at improving the quality of students’ learning experiences and the way
they are distributed. Because the reform was carried out “in the classrooms,” we need to
analyze these lines of action, the challenges they represent, and their impact on the educa-
tional framework. We begin by focusing this analysis on the specific programs that formed
the core of the reform package. These programs led to new educational concepts and
improved use of educational resources, which had been insu∑cient. The historical and
political context of the early 1990s, along with the urgent need to reform education,
influenced the decision to center education policy on specific programs rather than on
structural adjustment.
The second section covers the most important dimensions of the institutional context
of elementary education: financial resources, the faculty and administrators, and the
administrative system. This section examines the changes that occurred in these areas and
how they created new challenges, and it concludes with a discussion on the tension
between public and private alternatives in education and how they determine educational
changes. The central question is: ideological symbols in the complex choice between the
state or the market aside, how far advanced is Chile in configuring an educational system
that e∑ciently combines public and private elements to form a better system?
350 Isido ra Mena, Cristian Belleï
3 The Concertación is Chile’s center-left governing coalition.
th e n ew ch a l len g e: qua l ity and e q uit y i n e duc at i on 351
This study will have achieved its stated goals if it communicates the complexity of the
pertinent issues while acknowledging the advancements that have been made, even as it
challenges readers to creatively tackle unresolved problems.
I. The Heart of Education Reform:
Quality-Equity Improvement Programs
Educational reform has focused since the early 1990s on learning in the classroom. Reform
strategy has taken shape through quality and equity improvement programs (known as
MECEs). These programs rely on innovative initiatives to improve general education for
all students. The MECE programs exist for different schooling levels, such as pre-school,
elementary school, and secondary school, as well as rural education. Total investment in
the MECEs is more than 500 million dollars.4
The MECE programs are implemented and overseen by the Ministry of Education, which
will be cited hereinafter as Mineduc. Mineduc is responsible for evaluating MECE pro-
grams and setting education policy in general.
The task undertaken by the Concertación governments to improve education while
providing equal access to all has brought with it significant challenges. On one hand, the
reforms sought to distribute resources for education more evenly throughout the society.
On a deeper level, they sought to change Chile’s student and learning culture.
Improving quality in schools required a paradigm shift because notions of what and
how students learn were being changed; the very nature of what schools were teaching
was called into question. Educators argued that modern society requires people to do
more than accumulate an existing body of knowledge. They said that students need to
have su∑cient cognitive skills to apply ways of learning and thinking to a constantly
changing world. People, they said, also need to be educated in social ethics and to value
other individuals. These aims became the focus of the educational reform.
The quality of the learning experience improves when students forge a relationship to
knowledge itself so they can apply it to their present and future lives.
On the other hand, distributing educational opportunities more equally means leveling the
playing field so that all students, regardless of their sociopolitical background or living
conditions, have the same opportunities. This objective meant introducing complex
changes into the educational system.
Once the obstacles to educational access are lifted, equity in the classroom is achieved
by ensuring that each student receives an education tailored to his/her special needs. This
kind of policy can generate different learning experiences among individual students but
ensures that all students have equal access to education.
The reform program is based on transforming the triangular relation between teach-
ers, students, and knowledge itself. To make this happen, an overhaul of school policy and
administrative policy was necessary, both within individual schools and throughout the
system in general.
4 For an overview of global education policies in the1990s, see Cox (1994 and 1997). For a comparative analy-
sis of educational reform in Latin America, see Braslavsky (1996).
A cultural shift such as this is an even greater challenge considering the poverty that
affects Chile and specifically its educational system. As a country in the midst of its mod-
ernization process, Chile in the 1990s faces three sets of challenges in this regard:
• Poor country challenges: which make covering all Chilean children in the educational sys-
tem di∑cult. Impoverished Chilean children have little time to study, have few learning
resources like books or tapes and they may be under-nourished. These challenges
include low teacher salaries.
• Administrative modernization challenges: which due to historical or cultural circumstances
produce ine∑cient and bloated bureaucracies. In addition, the decentralization program
of the 1980s was inadequate in generating skills in local bureaucracies.
• Cultural transformation challenges: which are at the heart of education itself and are par-
ticularly cumbersome for Latin American countries which tend to be conservative.
Education reform addressing cultural issues requires that teachers and students them-
selves no longer focus entirely on learning about their own culture.
These challenges were posed starkly before Chile in the early 1990s. At times, achiev-
ing one set of goals means sacrificing others: overcoming poverty, for instance, makes
teaching computer skills more di∑cult.
The educational reform programs begun in 1990 have had a tremendous effect, open-
ing up a number of new doors in education while creating new problems. We will examine
some of these now.
1. PRESCHOOL EDUCATION
Although the number of preschool children covered by the education system rose notably
in the 1980s, only 20% of children under the age of six were attending preschool in the early
1990s. Most of those who were not covered were between ages four and six (in preschools
called jardines infantiles) and came from poor urban areas or isolated rural areas.5
For preschoolers, much of their education has a social “child care” aspect: the chil-
dren receive basic nutritional elements, protection, and, to a lesser degree, some language
stimulation. These “day-care schools” were characterized by poor infrastructure, unpro-
fessional teachers, and insu∑cient teaching materials. In general, the level of education
was profoundly unsatisfactory, especially in light of the fact that young students have
tremendous learning capabilities.
General Description of the Reform
Much of the evidence in this area shows that investment in preschool education has the
best effect on the poorest children and families. Getting children who come from the poor-
est homes into preschools becomes increasingly critical as the number of children in
extreme situations grows and more women enter the work force. Despite these facts, pre-
school reform is not favored by all experts. Critics question its impact on families, the job
market, communities, and the functioning of the educational system itself.
To answer the critics, the 1990s preschool education reform has a number of alterna-
tive options to the educational needs of very young children (Hermosilla 1996, 1997). The
352 Isido ra Mena, Cristian Belleï
5 Only 12% of the children surveyed came from rural areas.
reform supported the existing preschools dependent on the National Board of Preschools
(Junji) and the Integra Foundation, as well as programs that were being administered by
non-governmental organizations. In this way, the reform sought to promote different pro-
grams, from traditional to newer such as one in which mothers get materials and tutoring
for their children from Mineduc or programs run by community tutors.6
The MECE-preschool reform program has had wide-ranging effects. First, it has put
preschool education on the political agenda,7increasing the national budget for this type of
schooling. On a political level, the program has also demonstrated that educational reform
that strengthens ties between communities and schools, and provides alternative options,
can be popular. Secondly, it has improved the network of communication between different
levels of schooling. Last, the MECE program has been able to improve learning conditions
for individual preschoolers and increase the sources directed towards them.
MECE’s primary strategy is to focus on covering students in specific rural and
urban-poor areas. Approximately two-thirds of MECE’s preschool budget was used for
th e n ew ch a l len g e: qua l ity and e q uit y i n e duc at i on 353
6 Preschool reform has been administered by a number of groups and through various financing schemes.
Mineduc, through the MECE program, utilized US$39.6 million (or 16.3% of MECE- Elementary Schools’
total budget) over a period of six years. This figure does not represent a significant percentage of money
spent on overall preschool spending. Among 5- and 6-year-old children (who make up 80% of the pre-
school population), growth in coverage achieved through domestic financing shows 35,000 new students
in Junji since 1996, 25,000 in Integra, while MECE has recruited only 18,000 new students.
7 Preschool education is not mandatory in Chile and, as such, does not receive the benefits that the elemen-
tary school system receives. Junaeb, for example, does not provide nutritional meals to preschoolers. Junji
and Integra do provide nutritional meals for their students.
Preschool Quality and Equity Improvement Program
US $39.6 million
US $13.2 million
Quality
US $26.4 million
Coverage
Better Infrastructure
Learning Resources
Training
Focused Entrance Criteria
Parental Education
• Outreach Program
• "Manolo y Margarita"
New classrooms and better use of existing ones
Non-Traditional programs in rural and urban areas
1990-1996 Increase
9.8%
1990 Coverage
20.9%
Not
Covered
FIG URE 1
this purpose. The final third was used to improve the quality of existing educational
opportunities. This program required a concerted effort by the traditional players in the
system — preschools, Junji and Integra — and the assistance of private institutions such as
the Center for Educational Investigation and Development and the Interdisciplinary
Center for Educational Development.
In terms of promoting coverage, the plan of action was: (1) to optimize the use of
existing programs in poor areas and diversify the areas in which they were offered
(schools and Integra); (2) to set up non-traditional programs in order to increase cover-
age, with the focus on rural and urban-poor sectors; and (3)to improve educational
infrastructure.
Improving the quality of education was achieved through a multi-faceted action plan
which included: (1) hiring more employees with professional backgrounds in child care
and community service; (2) improving resources and educational tools available to chil-
dren at their schools; (3) hiring professionals to help schools reach out to their communi-
ties, either through programs aimed at parents or through public campaigns; and (4)
improving the connection between preschool and elementary education.
Diagnostic Evaluation of the Reform
Diversity
The preschool reform is in many ways distinctive because it combines a number of strate-
gies including non-traditional ones. A number of programs have been implemented to
improve schools’ ability to coordinate the different groups —students, parents, teachers,
and the community they serve. Today there is a significant track record in terms of pro-
grams that have been implemented. (They are no longer just pilot programs as they were
in the early 1990s.) This track record can serve as an example for other program coordina-
tors. The experiences of the rural communities are especially important here.
Community Framework
Another important aspect of the reform is how communities have been drawn into the
educational system in an effort to familiarize schools with students’ backgrounds and to
make communities more involved in the learning process. The ability of parents to contin-
ue their child’s education at home, among other things, makes a child’s school experience
more positive and plays a role in the student’s ability to function better in society overall.
Indeed, evaluations have demonstrated that the programs have generated networks of
support within the community for preschool education.
Bringing together schools with families and communities represents a concerted
effort to use policy to secure a much needed cultural change. In Chile, the relationship
between parents and children and between schools and children tends to be authoritarian,
highly controlling, and often quite aggressive. To break with this pattern while children
are young could have significant ramifications as they grow and learn. Such programs as
Manolo y Margarita aprenden con sus padres (Manolo and Margarita Learn with their
Parents), which combines texts and audiovisual materials, and Conozca a su hijo (Learn
About your Child), which targets poorer Chileans, are examples of how families can give
their children a better educational grounding.
354 Isido ra Mena, Cristian Belleï
Decentralizing Effort and Evaluation
Coordinating different actors and institutions, both at the national and regional levels, has
been an important subject in preschool education. The National Commission on
Preschool Education was created precisely to bring together the different groups active in
this area in an effort to coordinate their actions (even though the regulatory framework
for each differs widely).8This venture has greatly facilitated problem-detection and prob-
lem-solving throughout the system. For example, a framework now exists for transform-
ing administrational organizations from pyramid-like structures to more regional, decen-
tralized ones.
Few public programs have made evaluation a central part of their overall strategy.
There are evaluations for implementation, time series, and impact statements. These stud-
ies are frequently conducted by third-party groups like the Center for Children’s and
Women’s Studies (Ceanim) and the Center for Social Development Studies (Cedep).
These evaluations give planners more information for redesigning programs, improving
e∑ciency, and focusing on specific areas. In general, they play an important role in
improving education policy.
Impact on Results
The number of children covered by the preschool system has risen in all regions, up from
20.9% in 1990 to 29.8% in 1996. While the figures show improvement, the biggest jumps
were made among those in the lower-secondary class (quintile II), not those in the lowest
economic segment (quintile I) (see Graph 1).
Similarly, both Junji and Integra have increased their hours, closing at 7 p.m.
instead of 5 p.m., to care for children of parents who work. The 3,000 children at Junji
th e n ew ch a l len g e: qua l ity and e q uit y i n e duc at i on 355
8 Junji, which is state-funded, functions autonomously, except on matters related to curriculum formation.
Integra depends directly on the o∑ces of the First Lady and the respective wives of regional authorities. It
only consults with Mineduc on curriculum issues and coverage strategies. Mineduc does not have a super-
visory role, as it does in other areas of the educational system.
PRESCHOOL COVERAGE BY INCOME QUINTILE, 1990-96
Quintile 1990 1992 1994 1996 Percentual Change 1990-96
I16.9 19.8 21.1 22.3 32.0
II 17.5 22.1 22.7 26.8 53.1
III 20.4 23.9 27.7 30.0 47.1
IV 27.2 27.9 33.4 36.8 35.3
V32.4 44.6 46.0 48.4 49.4
Total 20.9 24.8 26.9 29.8 42.6
Source: Ministry of Planning and Cooperation,Casen Survey 1990-1996.
TABL E 1
and the 6,574 children at Integra using these extra hours represent small fractions of
their total clientele.
9
Reform planners have achieved significant goals in terms of carrying out their plan of
action. They have hired professional personnel, trained supervisors and professors,
improved material resources in the schools, and generated public image campaigns over
the radio and television.
According to studies, these improvements have led to cognitive skill advancements in
students, as well as increased student motivation and higher overall skills by the end of the
first year. In addition, they have identified variables that have a positive impact on stu-
dents from different backgrounds.
The results of an evaluation carried out by Cedep state that “the preschool services we
studied show improved adaptation in all children. The number of children with cognitive
deficits fell slightly. Overall, the opportunities and resources do not exist to achieve levels
of cognitive development comparable with normal distribution.”
Despite the unquestionable advances, there are still a number of challenges. The first
is to increase coverage in poor and rural areas through measures ranging from legal
action (following through on preschool laws that have not been enforced and writing
laws to make preschool mandatory) to new financial schemes for funding education. One
ultimate goal is to offer a diverse set of schooling alternatives for preschoolers, ranging
from schools that just care for children to ones that actually teach specialized types of
students. Reaching this goal of diversification should occur on the local as well as the
national level.
The second remaining challenge is defining an institutional policy for preschools. The
third is creating a system for the continued improvement of teaching.
There are also specific challenges for the different age groups of children who com-
prise the preschool system. For infant to 2-year-olds, the challenge is to find strategies that
look beyond the traditional Junji program or that of the earliest preschools. For 2- to 4-
year-olds, who are the biggest group in the system, the challenge lies in increasing cover-
age (77% of the population is not covered, according to a 1996 Casen study). For 5- to 6-
year-olds, the challenge is passing a mandatory attendance law. Preschool is not part of
mandatory schooling, but 90% of Chilean children attend in one form or another.
Ensuring that the most vulnerable children attend preschool and are not pulled out is
another issue that deserves attention.
Addressing these issues will help the political basis of the reform — equal opportunity
in education — gain popularity.
2. ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
The enormous expansion in elementary education in Chile in the second half of the 20th
century has allowed the country to overcome the coverage crunch. Although certain seg-
ments of the population still have problems gaining access to elementary education,10 it is
safe to say in general terms that elementary education in Chile is universal.
356 Isido ra Mena, Cristian Belleï
9 Junji has 92,000 children, ages 0 through 5, in total. Integra has 45,000 children, ages 0 through 6.
10 Ten percent of children in rural zones, which tend to be isolated geographically and have poor education
systems, do not complete elementary school.
The expansion in coverage was achieved without increasing the amount of money
invested into the system. The consequence however was a deterioration in the quality of
education, reflected in the short school day.11 This deterioration was the result of a drop in
infrastructure investments and lack of teaching materials and supplies.
Indicators in tests like those given by the Education Quality Measurement System
(Simce) reflect this backsliding. When the first Concertación government took o∑ce, the
average number of objectives achieved by municipal schools for the fourth and eighth
grades barely reached 50%; it was less than 60% in private schools which received public
financing. The level of inequality among schools serving different socioeconomic seg-
ments of the population was significant, considering that private schools (with only pri-
vate financing) achieved more than 70% of their objectives.
The main reason for the deterioration in education quality was the widespread
decline of teaching conditions, which hit the poorest sectors the hardest. For example, the
textbooks students received in first grade were loaned to them and had to be shared until
fifth grade. Furthermore, these conditions limited library resources and the availability of
teaching materials. Moreover, teaching methods and the curriculum in the elementary
school system were profoundly inadequate, mainly because they were not pertinent to the
conditions of poor students.
th e n ew ch a l len g e: qua l ity and e q uit y i n e duc at i on 357
11 While the average number of school hours per year for children in developed countries is 1,200, it was only
830 in 1980 and1,000 in the mid-1990s. The average in poorer countries is currently 865.
FIG URE 2
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL QUALITY AND EQUITY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMS
US $180 Million
100% Coverage
10,000 Educational Units (EU)
2,180,000 Students
INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
PROJECT ENLACES
50% of schools
IMPROVEMENT OF
CONDITIONS AND
LEARNING
RESOURCES
100% of schools
• Infrastructure
• Student Health
• Class Library and
Didactic Materials
• Texts
• Instructional Training
in Special Schools
EDUCATION
DECENTRALIZATION
PROJECTS FOR
EDUCATION
IMPROVEMENT
FUND
100% of schools
FOCUSED ACTIONS
RURAL
4.42% of
Elementary
Enrollment
3,338 EU
96,540 Students
• Micro Center
Training
• Specialized
Texts for
Teachers and
Aids
6.98% of
Elementary
Enrollment
1,945 EU
152,326
Students
P-900
• Instructional
Training in
School
Workshops
• Attention to
Students
with
Disabilities
• Specialized
Texts for
Teachers
and Aids
100%
50%
0%
A plan of action drawn up by the major academic institutions in Chile at the end of the
1980s outlined areas for improvement in elementary education: quality, in terms of distri-
bution of resources and teaching methodology; and equity, in terms of focusing on bol-
stering the poorest sectors. Even unconventional ideas were recommended to solve the sit-
uation. Eventually, elementary schools became known for their innovative reforms, a
characteristic that Chilean education had been known for in the past.
General Description of the Reform
One of the first moves by the new Concertación government was to implement an educa-
tion “emergency plan.” The mainstay of the plan was the 900 Schools or P-900, which
would later serve as the design framework for the MECE system. The P-900, which was
financed by the Chilean government as well as the Swedish and Danish governments, was
an all-out commitment to improve education in the worst 10% of schools in the country
(there were 969 schools in this category). The program confronted a variety of needs in
these schools, including resource distribution, faculty organization, and help for the most
at-risk students.
In 1991, a US$243 million plan called the Quality-Equity Improvement Plan (MECE)
was approved for the years 1992-1997. Of this total investment, US$180 million, or 70%,
was invested in elementary education (Mineduc 1993). Drawing on the experience of the
P-900 and various school studies, the MECE programs relied on various tactics including:
direct support in the schools; targeted programming in the most vulnerable sectors; and
indirect actions to promote school autonomy. In general, the MECE program had the fol-
lowing features at its core:
a) Thirty-seven percent of the total investment went to improving the level of learning
resources and conditions. These included classroom book collections, school manu-
als, textbooks (which became the property of the students), didactic material,
improvements in school infrastructure and health services, and teacher services.
b)
Nine percent of the investment went directly to the most vulnerable sectors:
rural, multi-grade schools (one room schoolhouses); one-, two-, and three-
teacher establishments (just over 7 million dollars; and schools for the handi-
capped, which received almost US$2 million for specialized programming.
Since 1994, the P-900 program has been incorporated in the MECE plan for ele-
mentary schools.
c) Ten percent of the investment went to information technology, which consisted of
linking 50% of Chile’s schools to a national communications network linked via e-
mail and the Internet. Implementation of computer systems and software was also
part of the strategy. Nine percent of the investment went to the education decentral-
ization plan, implemented with financing from Projects for Education Improvement
(PME) and designed by the individual communities.
Diagnostic Evaluation of the Reform
Improvement in Resources and Conditions
in f ras truct u re
Public investment in this area has quadrupled since 1990. Through 1994, repairs were com-
pleted in more than 22% of Chile’s schools. However, the lack of infrastructure investment
358 Isido ra Mena, Cristian Belleï
in the years preceding this reform set schools so far back that there are still weaknesses in
this area.
st ude n t hea lt h
Junaeb, the National Commission on Student Aid and Scholarships, has greatly improved
its ability to deliver health services to students. Professors in grades one through six
learned to diagnose learning disabilities in their students. These children get help in clin-
ics where they are treated with medication, special glasses, or earphones. Through 1995,
233,739 children in grades one through four received such treatment. This figure sur-
passed the program’s original goal. These improvements relied on a bold administrative
system which integrated the skills of various groups, and decentralized boards and evalu-
ation teams.
te x t s and d i dact i c mate r ial
By 1995, reformers had achieved their goal of installing a classroom book collection in
every first grade class in subsidized schools (in fact, they surpassed their original goal by
10,000 libraries). Each library consists of a set of 35 to 60 books. Educators expect the
libraries in grades five though eight to be completed by 1997. In addition, this reform pro-
vided dictionaries and significant didactic material to schools. Finally, the reform deliv-
ered textbooks to 100% of students. These books, contrary to in past years, became the
property of each student. This shift clearly improved students’ ability to learn and eased
the burden on teachers.12
in f orm at ion t e c hno l ogy (pr oje c t e nla ces )
All educators recognize the importance of information systems in modern learning. However,
implementing a full communications network is an enormous challenge, as it requires more
than just building “computer rooms.” Recognizing that information technology is a vehicle
th e n ew ch a l len g e: qua l ity and e q uit y i n e duc at i on 359
12 Between 1988 and 1990, the government investedUS$1.6 million annually in textbooks. Between 1990 and
1996, the average annual amount spent on textbooks was US$4.7 million. That provided three textbooks for
students in grades one through four and five textbooks for students in five through eight. Experts continual-
ly cite availability of textbooks and length of the school day as factors that most affect student learning.
INVESTMENT IN TEACHING AND LEARNING RESOURCES
Program Investment (in dollars)
Texts 23,661,000
Didactic Materials 3,516,000
Class Libraries 2,991,000
Source: Elementary Quality-Equity Improvement Program, Ministry of Education.
TABL E 2
for growth and access to a global world, MECE’s objective was to install a national computer
network that would unite — before the year 2000 — 50% of Chile’s schools.
13
The project was coordinated out of the Ninth Region (southern Chile) through the
Universidad de la Fontera. The program gave every school an adequate computer system,
including hardware, software, and technical support in running the system. Seven technol-
ogy centers, operated in conjunction with various universities throughout the country were
organized to implement the program, each in its own region. They were particularly valu-
able in providing technological assistance and know-how. Through 1996, 500 institutions
were included on the new computer network. The goal is to reach 1,500 by the end of 1997.
The communications network is supported by a software system called La Plaza that
contains educational programs and allows for friendly communication between teachers
and students in different schools.
Support Programs in Vulnerable Sectors
he l p for t h e poo r est s c hoo l s (p- 900 )
This support program, targeting the country’s poorest schools, was budgeted between
1990 and 1996 with US$16.8 million and sustained by the governments of Chile and other
nations.
The institutions eligible for P-900 funding participated in elementary reform pro-
grams like other schools but because of their special condition they received special help,
which included:
• Strategies to improve Spanish and Math skills. These included teacher workshops super-
vised by Mineduc to acquaint educators with new teaching methods. In these work-
shops, they worked with materials specially designed for their interactions with stu-
dents.
• Learning workshops called TAPs, which were basically tutoring sessions for the most
disadvantaged children. The sessions were conducted by local teenagers. Special materi-
als were also provided for these teenagers and their pupils. Evaluative studies show that
360 Isido ra Mena, Cristian Belleï
ADVANCES IN SIMCE FOURTH-GRADER AVERAGES
(in Spanish and Mathematics)
IN P-900 SCHOOLS
Quintile 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996
Free Schools 54.70 58.98 66.37 67.74 67.93
P-900 43.15 * 52.11 60.91 61.62 64.34
Difference 11.62 6.87 5.46 6.12 3.59
*Refers to the poorest 10% of schools in the system (objective Program population).
TABL E 3
13 The success and popularity of this program caused the government to promise to expand its goal, pledging
that the national computer network would reach all the secondary schools in Chile as well as 50% of ele-
mentary schools. The total investment was US$120 million.
children who attended these sessions bridged the gap in cognitive skills with those who
did not in four years.
•
As something of a footnote to the P-900 program, a pilot program to improve management
within a few individual schools was set up. This pilot has created a number of new strate-
gies for improving school administration. It has also generated ideas for improving ties
between schools, local communities, local governments, and local boards of education.
The reform’s impact on teaching methods was studied by external organizations like
the CDE and UNESCO. These groups underscored: the higher standards teachers had for
their students (studies show the direct relationship between teacher expectations and stu-
dent performance); renewed respect among the teachers for the different learning styles
and needs of the students; and the development of more interactive and flexible teaching
methodologies in areas such as problem solving, creating incentives to participate in class,
and using the library. Moreover, professors demonstrated an improved ability to critique
their own work (Gajardo 1994).
In terms of student performance, Simce reported important advances in scores in
all sectors.
rur a l r efo r m (me c e-rur a l)
Rural schools, which comprise 20% of all elementary schools, have traditionally been sub-
ject to the same policies as urban schools. The MECE-Rural program was the first attempt
by the government to design a special policy for rural establishments. This program
worked with multi-grade schools which tended to be in the worst conditions.
Approximately 5% of elementary schools are multi-grade.
The MECE-Rural school reform was designed especially for such schools even though
they also benefited from general elementary school reforms. The MECE-Rural plan was
based on various lines of action:
• Workshops in local centers for teachers who work in isolated areas. These workshops
were an opportunity for teachers to share their experiences, learn about other styles and
methods, and develop new curriculum. In this sense, the workshops dealt with both the-
oretical and practical issues. These meeting were also used by professors to develop
Education Improvement Projects (PMEs) for their respective schools. In total, 591 PMEs
have been created at the 506 microcenters in Chile.
• Developing study books and texts that suit rural students. These students were also
allowed to participate in the process of updating the texts.
th e n ew ch a l len g e: qua l ity and e q uit y i n e duc at i on 361
TOTAL SELECTED EDUCATION REFORM PROJECTS
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 92/96
Elementary Education 436 738 739 736 672 3,321
Special Education 39 69 52 58 48 266
Rural Micro Centers – – 104 140 347 591
Total 475 807 895 934 1,067 4,178
TABL E 4
The rural reform is regarded as an example of good policy throughout Chile and Latin
America in general for its coherence, focus, and professionalism.
le a rni n g dis abi l ity an d s pec i al edu c atio n r e for m
This program, set in special education schools, used new studies and techniques to educate
2,482 teachers and 1,087 principals on how to develop programs for the learning disabled.
Furthermore, the Feurstein enrichment program for special education was implemented as
a pilot program in 46 schools. It trained 77 professors to teach the learning disabled.
Thorough investigation into these programs has provided valuable critiques that can
be applied to future reforms for special education. These programs have served as a model
for reform in other areas of the education system, especially teacher training.
Decentralization
ed u cati o n r efo r m pro jec t s ( pme )
The Education Reform Projects (PMEs), in which the central government encourages
innovative reform through decentralized policies, have become a model throughout Latin
America. The MECE-Elementary reform was founded on this notion that decentralization
increases e∑ciency and that those closest to a specific learning situation are best able to
alter it.
Under the guidelines of the program, schools present their initiatives for improving
education in annual competitive bids. These bids determine who receives funding for their
proposals. With weight given to those schools who serve disadvantaged children and
schools, projects are selected on the basis of quality. A school that obtains an award, or
PME, receives funds proportional to its size (between US$2,700 and US$8,000) as well as a
“teaching packet” (worth an additional US$1,500). The “teaching packet” includes a tele-
vision, a VCR, educational videos, recorders, microscopes, telescopes, etc.
The government’s ability to offer financial incentives to disadvantaged schools has
made this program special and a cornerstone of decentralized education.
The PMEs capitalize on professors’ positions in the classroom and thus their ability to
develop and endorse reforms. It gave teachers and administrators flexibility. Above all, the
reform encouraged collective action, as projects were developed and implemented
through a consensus between professors, administrators, and sometimes students.
The effect a PME program has in schools is directly proportional to its ability to meld
into the schools’ curriculum and mission. Defining that mission has been the responsibili-
ty of teachers and administrators and when they have done their job well, i.e. create con-
sensus and evaluate programs, the PMEs have been successful.
Curriculum Reform
Elementary school curriculum was altered by a new approach to learning. After consulting
with professionals and carrying out studies, the government implemented the
Fundamental Objectives and Minimum Requirements Plan (OFCM) for elementary
schools in January 1996. The plan defined the new areas of study, improved the organiza-
tional framework for learning, and established overarching thematic subjects for students.
It relied on an inclusive, consensual framework to meet the requirements of all involved.
The ultimate goal of this reform was to create minimum curricular requirements for all of
Chile’s schools. For example, teams of specialists would frequently develop proposals for
362 Isido ra Mena, Cristian Belleï
curriculum reform which would then be revised and critiqued by other groups and institu-
tions through public forums. This inclusive strategy gave the reform legitimacy with a
broad cross-section of the educational community and, ultimately, the whole society.
Beginning this year, the new curriculum designs were implemented by elementary
schools across the country. These reforms were carried out under the auspices of the
Education Law (LOCE), which sets the guidelines for education policy for local and state
government, by granting individual schools the right to develop their own curriculums.
th e n ew ch a l len g e: qua l ity and e q uit y i n e duc at i on 363
RESULTS OF THE EDUCATION QUALITY MEASUREMENT SYSTEM (SIMCE) EXAM
1990-1996
FOURTH YEAR
(National averages based on percent correct responses on the SIMCE examination)
1990 1992 1994 1996
Mathematics 60.1 67.3 69.3 71.2
Spanish 61.2 68.0 67.4 71.8
.
EIGHTH YEAR
(National averages based on percent correct responses on the SIMCE exam)
1991 1993 1995
Mathematics 51.63 56.27 58.21
Spanish 55.08 58.89 59.24
History – 56.73 59.64
Science – 54.55 58.87
FOURTH YEAR: Comparison between the top and bottom 10% of SIMCE achievements
(National averages based on percent correct responses in mathematics and Spanish)
1990 1992 1994 1996
Top 10% of Schools 78.22 85.48 84.78 86.7
Bottom 10% of Schools 40.17 46.29 48.79 53.6
Difference 38.05 39.19 35.99 33.1
EIGHTH YEAR: Comparison between the top and bottom 10% of SIMCE achievements
(National averages based on percent correct responses in mathematics and Spanish)
1991 1993 1995
Top 10% of Schools 74.4 78.9 79.4
Bottom 10% of Schools 33.2 37.7 38.9
Difference 41.2 41.3 40.5
TABL E 5
(Mineduc provides curriculum designs for those schools who do not develop their own in-
house.) To improve curriculum implementation, universities have started workshops for
teachers to acquaint them with the new material.
School Hours
One radical change in Chilean education is the move to increase the number of school
hours by 200 a year. Schools with financial flexibility have already implemented such
changes, and the subject is popular with private school reformers. The extra 200 hours per
year would boost the total to 1,200, much closer to figures in more developed countries.
For now, those schools that have not had to invest in infrastructure improvements or
expansions to handle the larger schooling load have been able to increase their hours.
These schools tend to be small and have fewer students. Experts agree this issue will
remain an important subject of conversation so long as funds are available for implement-
ing such change on a large scale. Financing, however, is not the only challenge. Using the
extra school hours to increase learning is also an important topic of discussion. More
hours in school ultimately means creating legal measures and incentives to take classroom
advantage of the extra time.
Impact on Learning Test Results
According to the national Simce test, the government achieved its goal of increasing aver-
age student scores by five percentage points in the basic areas of study. In addition, the tra-
ditional gap between the worst schools and regions and the best was slightly reduced.
Results for students in grades 1-4 actually beat the average by jumping 9.2 percent-
age points in math and 6.2 percentage points in Spanish. In grades 4-8, students only
outdid the average in math with a 6.58 percentage increase. Their Spanish scores only
rose by 4.16%.
The goal of creating more equity between the bottom and top Simce scorers was not
fully achieved, especially in grades 4-8, although there was some improvement. The fact
that grade 1-4 students made greater strides than their counterparts in grades 5-8 was
expected because many of the new reform programs targeted that group.
The graph shows that general learning is improving, but the reforms and increased
budgets have not done much to narrow the gap between the best and worst students. With
this in mind, more programs focused squarely on the most disadvantaged students, i.e.
those who received the worst scores, are needed to bring equity to Chile’s elementary
school system.
3. SECONDARY SCHOOL
Evaluation, Emergency Measures, and Long-Term Strategies (1990-1994)
At the outset of the first Concertación government, there was no overarching measure of
evaluation for Chile’s secondary schools, although experts did share some common con-
cerns. First, they agreed that Chile’s secondary school program lacked identity. That is, it
lacked focus and a mission. Second, they said its purpose was basically irrelevant because
of its poor reputation and the low value its degree held in the economy. Moreover, this was
the schooling period when many poor Chileans dropped out. Third, experts believed the
schools were not connected to society as a whole because their curriculum inadequately
364 Isido ra Mena, Cristian Belleï
dealt with larger issues. Last, they argued that Chile’s secondary schools reflected the
enormous inequality of the system as a whole. The unequal distribution of resources dis-
proportionately affected the poor. Taken together, these four points formed a line of criti-
cism which came to be called “the crisis in secondary schools,” (Cariola and Cox 1991).
Despite the problems, the government decided not to significantly reform second-
ary schools for two reasons: it had not gathered enough information to attack specific
problems, and its priority was improving conditions in elementary schools. It did how-
ever develop a two-point program for secondary schools that combined improved tech-
nical resources at schools with a foundation of knowledge on which to build a future
reform program.
The technology improvement plan was created at the behest of low-income families
and because it led to employment opportunities14 (an issue in light of high unemployment
rates among recent graduates). The technology program reinforced a concept central to
previous secondary school reforms in that study material and curriculums should be close-
ly linked to the workplace. Years later, when a better system for evaluating secondary
schools was developed, this concept was called into question when the link between tech-
nology and the workplace was rethought.
One component of the MECE-Elementary plan that carried over to secondary schools
was the effort to perfect an evaluation framework that would allow experts to assess
progress in the secondary school system. The ultimate goal was to acquire a su∑ciently
broad basis of knowledge on which to carry out a full-fledged reform. As part of this
th e n ew ch a l len g e: qua l ity and e q uit y i n e duc at i on 365
Definition of a New Curricular Framework (Curriculum and Evaluation)
• Choice of Resources
• Competitive Processes
• Hiring of External Consultants
• Consulting
• Training
• Personnel
• Library
• Didactic Materials
• Computers
• Textbooks
• Infrastructure
Support System Improvement
Direct Intervention in
Internal Processes Consolidation of
Autonomy
SCHOOL
Teaching Process
Institutional Management
Incorporation of Student Culture
Strategy and Components of the Secondary
Quality-Equity Improvement Program
FIG URE 3
14 For a detailed analysis of the program, see Belleï (1996).
MECE program, the following were developed: 13 studies — dedicated to various areas like
curriculum, teaching methods, evaluation frameworks, administration, and student
recruitment — conducted by Chile’s most prestigious study centers; a new “town-hall”
dialogue, organized by Mineduc, which united 30,000 people from 2,000 groups to dis-
cuss educational reform; and a series of surveys designed to test new programs on school
communities. These two years of research, overseen by Mineduc, not only served to col-
lect a wealth of information on secondary schools but also to create an important prece-
dent for public policy in education.
The word anachronism best described the general state of secondary education in
Chile. In short, its orientation, organization, and curriculum were based on a past that no
longer reflected reality. Both society in general, which has changed its relationship with
development, institutions, and information, and the students, who are more diverse than
before, made Chile’s style of education outdated. This gap between secondary school prac-
tices and reality manifested itself in various problems. The government was aware of this
and accepted the fact that only a major reform to secondary schools would resolve the core
of the matter. It was generally agreed that any major reform would have to tackle structur-
al issues such as administration, curriculum, and linkages with society, and be accompa-
nied by important legal and political shifts. Implementing a series of smaller reforms in
advance, experts said, would help secondary schools improve their internal workings and
their ability to evaluate themselves. Such mini-reforms would ultimately carve out a fertile
ground for full-scale reform in secondary schools.
MECE-Secondary School Program (1995-2000)15
While the MECE-Secondary School Program defines a series of proactive steps, it is better
observed by considering the subjects it does not broach. They include: coverage (neither
attracting new students nor lowering the drop-out rate); adult education; teacher train-
ing; and school financing.
The current central idea of the program is to strengthen the fundamental processes
that occur, or should occur, within the school themselves. The plan is focused on the teach-
ing process which includes teacher-student relations and the development of general activ-
ities and resources. Its central principle is incorporating the issues and trends that matter
to the students into schooling itself. The plan encourages self-thinking and self-critique
among students as a basis for increasing equal educational opportunities.
The program also seeks to redefine the substance of secondary schooling; this area
especially will be redefined in coming years. The MECE-Secondary School program
includes a branch focusing on developing a new Fundamental Objectives and Minimum
Requirements (OFCM) system for core curriculum.
16
These new objectives and requirements
366 Isido ra Mena, Cristian Belleï
15 This section describes the MECE-Secondary School Program and its implementation into the school sys-
tem, as well as outlining some basis for evaluation. External evaluations of the MECE-Secondary School
Program were not available for inclusion in this analysis.
16 In June 1997, Mineduc introduced its OFCM proposal for secondary schools and called for a national
debate on it. In March 1998, the revised proposals were sent to the High Council on Education for
approval, which was granted in April. This act paved the way for new study and reform programs to be
applied in 1999. In addition, a national system for evaluating secondary schools was developed in conjunc-
tion with the new programs.
will be established throughout the country as mandated by LOCE. The new additions seek
to renovate the secondary school curriculum by making it more accessible to young peo-
ple. In the spirit of reconnecting students with their education, the new curriculum was
developed by teams of experts, teachers, and, for the first time, students.
Moreover, observers agree that secondary schools would also benefit from longer
school days.17 Additional hours could especially help poorer students who lack the family
structure to complement their education. In coming years, Chilean secondary schools will
undoubtedly recover the standards for longer days that once guided these schools.
It seems clear, however, that both areas of reform — curriculum and length of the
school day — will only be successful if the MECE-Secondary School programs function
well at the student level. In other words, the conditions for revising the curriculum and
expanding the school day must be derived from a higher level of student learning and
achievement.
To reach these goals, three reform mechanisms are necessary (see Figure 3): improv-
ing the material resources that are integral to the learning process; attempting direct
actions to carry out the reforms; and attempting indirect actions to give schools more
autonomy in running and reforming their programs.
Material Resources
The reform plan stipulates that the minimum for improving this area involves: various
infrastructure improvements (including furniture); an endowment for all schools to pro-
vide high-quality books to be housed in academic libraries (including subscriptions to
magazines and newspapers); modern teaching materials; textbooks, with an eye to newer
curriculum, for every student and professor (for the first time all secondary school stu-
dents will have their own textbooks); and new computer technology (including software
and technical support) to teach students how to learn through computers. Schools will
also receive a national computer linkup, Enlaces, and Internet capabilities.
Direct Actions
First, the installation of Professional Work Groups (GPT) in every school has helped speed
the education reform. These groups are designed to help professors revise and evaluate
their own work, make their lesson plans more flexible to meet the changing needs of their
students and create a dynamic foundation for improving teaching methodology, evalua-
tion, and design.
Second, the proposal to modernize the administration of individual schools calls for
setting up an Institutional Administration Team in every school that promotes the partici-
pation of members of the school community, especially professors and students, in deci-
sion-making. It also calls for an Institutional Education Project to centralize projects and
initiatives within the school and to develop institutional policies.
Last, observers agree that schools would benefit from the development of an Optional
Extra Curricular Program (ACLE). ACLE would be comprised of a series of workshops in var-
ious areas, such as the environment, communications, art, and sports. Students would attend
th e n ew ch a l len g e: qua l ity and e q uit y i n e duc at i on 367
17 In 1997, 198 secondary schools implemented the Complete School Day plan (longer hours). These 198
schools represent 15% of all schools in the country, and comprise 13% of all secondary school students.
these sessions on a voluntary basis and help guide and direct them, along with teacher men-
tors. These workshops have three objectives: (1) keep children occupied in their free time in
educational and creative ways. In doing so, communities can take advantage of school facili-
ties when classes are not scheduled; (2) build school spirit by giving students a way of identi-
fying themselves with their school; and (3) provide educational lessons about citizenship and
responsibility that may ultimately increase their motivation to learn inside the classroom.
The strategy that underlies these proposals relies on participation (seminars,
exchange programs), technical support from supervisors at Mineduc, and work materials,
especially for self-teaching (videos, guides).
Indirect Action
The reform proposes a number of indirect actions to make schools more autonomous
and better able to capitalize on their specific strengths. These mechanisms are activated
from within the schools themselves and focus on the use of financial, material, and
human resources.
First, the reform grants book catalogs, teaching materials (developed through strict
public bidding processes), and a sum of resources, allocated according to the size of the
student body, with which professors can draw up a list of materials they need. Through
this system, 80% of books and almost all teaching materials are financed. Accordingly,
each school can build its own library or resource center according to the needs of its stu-
dents. Moreover, e∑ciency can be maximized when students themselves help decide what
materials the school needs.
Second, the plan calls for a fund for projects — similar to the MECE-Elementary Plan
— to which all schools have access. Through this program, teachers should design
368 Isido ra Mena, Cristian Belleï
SECONDARY QUALITY-EQUITY IMPROVEMENT
PROGRAM FINANCIAL RESOURCES
Resource Type–Total Program Total Cost per School
Cost (in millions of dollars) (in millions of pesos)
Textbooks 25.0 8.0
Library Books 26.3 8.4
Didactic Material 9.3 3.0
Technology 29.2 9.3
Infrastructure (Improvement)* 26.9 8.6
Infrastructure (Equipment) 22.0 7.0
PME Projects and External Consulting 27.3 8.7
Direct Training and Support ** 40.5 12.9
Total 206.5 65.9
* Only includes municipal schools
** Includes seminar and workshop attendance and training; discussion materials and direct support of
program activities; Ministry of Education coordination,consulting, and supervision; costs of the elabo-
ration of the new secondary education curricular framework.
Source: Secondary Quality-Equity Improvement Program, Ministry of Education.
TABL E 6
Education Improvement Projects (PMEs) to improve their teaching capacity. This would
aid in providing educational answers to the growing question of how to serve an increas-
ingly diverse group of students.
Last, in order to satisfy teachers and enrich learning experiences, teams of teachers can
hire external consulting teams through the Directory of Technical Assistance, which is com-
prised of 260 Chilean institutions. These institutions are usually universities. (To a lesser
extent, think-tanks, institutions, and private companies also provide technical assistance.)
The Current Situation
The MECE-Secondary School Program provides universal coverage at 1,300 establish-
ments. The different reform strategies are implemented in a variety of ways depending
on the school — all at once, in order, or at the discretion of the individual institution.
Because these mechanisms are being implemented at varying paces, one secondary
school may not resemble its counterpart. Although no impact studies have been complet-
ed, it seems in general that the fruits of the MECE-Secondary School Program are begin-
ning to appear.
All of the country’s secondary schools have received the first part of their library and
have defined which titles will appear in the second part (end of 1997); have received the basic
equipment in the technology packet; and have requested the first half of their teaching mate-
rials. All of the textbooks on language and math have been distributed for first- and second-
year students. In addition, 461 schools (a little more than a third of the total) have been incor-
porated into the Enlaces computer-based information program. This year all municipal
schools (more than 500) will be brought into the reform program and receive infrastructure
investment. The review of 392 PME-Secondary School selections has begun and 770 schools
now have resources and information to contract outside technical assistance.
Despite the absence of impact studies, it seems that efforts by Professional Work
Groups (GPT) have begun in almost all of Chile’s secondary schools as has the construc-
tion of student space for the Optional Extracurricular Program. The deployment of these
programs has demonstrated that schools are experimenting with their general organiza-
tional structure and administration. The strategy for building libraries seems to have been
converted into a multi-faceted Learning Resource Center Plan.
Two categories of principal problems have emerged in the area of secondary school
reform. First, the quality of the implementation and operation of these programs is entire-
ly dependent on a school’s internal functioning. For instance, the amount of time students
have to work on new projects is directly related to their schedule and the amount of sup-
port they receive from teachers. Many of the new projects rely on teacher-student dialogue
which may or may not exist. Furthermore, school principals may be resistant to change.
Second, schools receive different components of the reform plan at different times, there-
by losing the ability to participate in complementary development programs. The schools
also may compete for students. In other cases, the reform grant is not su∑cient to rouse
interest in solving the school’s problems. Finally, in many cases the reform produces a
“rigidization” of action in which specific strategies and ideas are sought at all costs. When
this occurs, the notion of flexibility at the heart of the reform is lost.
Despite the di∑culties and the challenges that lie ahead, it seems that the MECE-
Secondary School reform has helped secondary schools emerge from an extended period
of crisis in which expectations were eroded and perspectives were skewed.
th e n ew ch a l len g e: qua l ity and e q uit y i n e duc at i on 369
4. CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF PROGRAMS AS EDUCATION REFORM
With so many strategies for reforming education, it is useful to analyze the top programs
and consider their implementation and utility, their strengths and weaknesses, and their
origin. More than just an impact statement, this critical analysis of program strategy and
function is meant to identify which mechanisms need to be improved.
Teaching and Teaching Methodology
Evaluations
One of the notable achievements of the 1990s in Chilean education is the development
of a systematic manner of gathering and evaluating information. This assessment sys-
tem is frequently carried out by independent academic institutions, whose early work
during the military government laid the groundwork for the boom of the 1990s. The
major programs of the decade, like the P-900 and the MECE-Elementary plan, were
founded on evaluation and information gathering. In secondary schools, major
reforms were put off precisely because of the dearth of information on which to base
new programs.
At every level of schooling, these analyses and studies take different tacks to find ways
to maximize resources, work patterns, and competitive advantages. They offer specific
and pertinent ideas and arguments for new programs. Moreover, because the studies are
often performed by different groups working together, they can create consensus on edu-
cational reform.
Teaching Objectives
In general terms, the improvements that have been made in teaching objectives and strate-
gies have had a direct effect on the quality of students’ education. These improvements
have transformed the role of teachers, giving them better didactic resources, more autono-
my, and greater motivation.
This new teaching system has become widely accepted, partly because there was gen-
eral agreement that old concepts needed to be reformed. More importantly, this system
has given the Ministry of Education a new sense of legitimacy, especially in the area of
teaching methodology and technique. The Ministry has achieved widely-accepted com-
mon ground in this area. It is safe to say that this common ground has laid the foundation
for a significant shift in the philosophy of education in Chile.
Design of aSchool Reform
At every level, the MECE program demanded that schools adjust to the idea of implement-
ing reforms and new programs. In terms of strategy, a number of methods were used: they
included direct intervention, decentralized action, autonomous actions by the schools
themselves, use of incentives and competitions, and outsourced consulting and assistance.
The design of the MECE-Secondary School Program — three years after the MECE pro-
grams for Preschool and Elementary school — drew on previous experiences to create an
implementation strategy that combined new assistance mechanisms, greater resources,
and more autonomy for schools.
370 Isido ra Mena, Cristian Belleï
Remaining Challenges in Teaching Concepts
Despite the general acceptance of these ideas, it is still a challenge to incorporate the indi-
vidual changes of every new program into a larger system that represents a true shift in the
teaching paradigm. This is important because without the paradigm shift, individual pro-
gramming changes will lose value. To ensure this does not occur, more information about
successful programs and achievements is needed. In addition, exchanges of ideas and per-
sonnel will allow teachers to see new perspectives and share concrete models that will help
solidify educational reforms.
Reform Acceptance
Due to the fact that these reforms grant professors and administrators a key role in the
reform process, their willingness to accept the goals and strategies of the reforms is central
to their success. However, it is not possible to measure this level of acceptance now
because su∑cient information on the subject has not been compiled.
It does seem, however, that when new programs arrive in the hands of teachers, either
directly or through other means (through education reform representatives or self-
explanatory directions and guidelines), they are understood and generally well-liked. It
seems that few professors oppose or attempt to subvert the new reforms.
Weaknesses in Coordination and Administration
A number of weaknesses exist in the coordination of the reforms, mostly because teachers
are unfamiliar with the new programs’ administrative or legal foundations. Furthermore,
the bureaucratic committees that may design the reforms have little contact with the
schools. These problems have made program implementation di∑cult in some areas. They
have also slowed timetables for reforms and in some cases created friction between
schools and bureaucracies.
Weaknesses in Objectives for Student Management
The necessity to refocus the learning experience on teaching rather than management has led
to a shortage of proposals on administering students and general organization. Experience
has shown that the schools that have successfully implemented administrative reform have
strong principals. When these leaders do not exist, however, the lack of coordination from
the top of the school structure weakens reform programs and teacher motivation.
The natural friction between the teachers and the administration tends to keep this
issue off the reform agenda. Initiatives dealing with these issues frequently fall apart and
are often forgotten.
Weaknesses in Relying on External Actors in School Reform
In some cases, the choice of external players to participate in or assist with reforms has
dogged new programs and hampered their success. For example, the programs fail to take
into account that schools report to two very different organizations (their financial back-
ers, administratively; and Mineduc, in terms of teaching and oversight) and provide no
coordination mechanisms to address this difference. The technical supervisors who
implement reform programs at a given school are frequently unaware of the school’s
financial situation. This issue has been fundamental in an ongoing conflict that has arisen
over teacher salaries and hours. Additionally, coordination regarding the reforms between
th e n ew ch a l len g e: qua l ity and e q uit y i n e duc at i on 371
schools and families/communities has been poor, except in preschools and grades 1-4 in
elementary schools.
The real challenge lies in defining what type of links between schools and external
actors — such as families, municipalities, Mineduc, and local communities — are most
suitable. Better communication about the roles and responsibilities of the different groups
and the schools themselves is also needed.
Weaknesses in Program Coordination
Coordinating the use of various reform programs is essential to their success. Part of the
problem is the lack of coordination in the different aspects of the programs themselves.
In general, the void in implementation standards means that programs compete for stu-
dents and resources, provoking a sense of unevenness. The programs sometimes com-
pete for teachers as well. In addition, local bureaucracies and school boards begin imple-
menting programs before prioritizing and coordinating them. This has weakened a
number of programs.
Another coordination conflict stems from the gap between prevailing student culture
and the orientation of the programs. These differences are frequently built-in to the
respective sides and are thus di∑cult to modify. They can have a serious effect on the suc-
cess of new programs. This “student culture” gap widens when one considers that the
reform programs often try to change student culture. This is one of the great paradoxes of
the education reform: it seeks to develop new student culture by using current student cul-
ture as the building block.
Communication Challenges
Public policy in the 1990s has been founded on the notion that education has an important
effect on society and the economy overall, but much less has been said about the impact
those two areas have on education. If we accept that education is part of the cultural fabric
of a society, then attempting to reform schools, to the extent Chile has reformed, implies
altering that fabric to achieve some type of cultural change.
Part of the education reform has mandated schools to work more closely with their
local communities and other outside groups. To really achieve a cultural shift, however,
more is required. Drawing a broader link between schools and communities, making
school reforms more visible, stating the legitimacy of school reforms in public, incorpo-
rating families, and informing politicians and business leaders are necessary steps in this
direction. Ultimately, a society that understands and supports the reforms will make them
more successful.
This implies improving the public relations and communications aspects of schools
so they can publicize relevant experiences and efforts.
Challenges to “Open Design”
The process of incremental reform is only possible if it is accompanied by an “open
design” policy; that is, maintaining flexibility and adaptability in regards to the imple-
mentation of new programs and their contexts. In effect, the most successful programs are
accompanied by an “open design” policy. It is one of the great strengths of current educa-
tion reform policy.
372 Isido ra Mena, Cristian Belleï
To continue building on this policy, mechanisms to encourage and handle constant
program redesign are necessary throughout the school system. These mechanisms are at
present insu∑cient in the Ministry of Education and in many schools. What is desired is a
system of evaluation and alignment that sets a significant goal (cultural shifts in educa-
tion, teaching social values, etc.) and attempts to reach it with or without its original
parameters and timetables.
The illusion constructed by o∑cial plans hides the real nature of how changes can be
made in productive ways during the course of the program. It seems that certain in-house
changes have had greater effects than would initially appear and in some cases have pro-
vided the basis for major changes that will lead the next generation of reforms.
There is also a significant amount of experimentation in the area of teaching method-
ology which needs to be reviewed to judge its appropriateness.
Remaining Challenges for a “Program Strategy”
It was common knowledge in the early 1990s that Chile’s education sector faced three
challenges: shifting the cultural paradigm to realize the goals of quality and equity; pro-
viding better coverage and resources to Chile’s youth; and modernizing and decentraliz-
ing administrative bodies, a goal which has still not been fully attained. The best educa-
tion strategy is one that combines these three concerns with a focus on teaching. With
this goal as the utmost concern, the resources to change schools’ administration styles
can be generated.
In practice, teaching concerns still do not guide education policy or financial/admin-
istrative efforts within the schools. This problem coincides with a growing sentiment of
discontent among teachers and principals who sometimes feel that decisions on reforms
are not made collectively. The programs themselves do not provide mechanisms to over-
come these obstacles. This situation will undoubtedly increase tensions over the next few
years, adding to pressure for new solutions.
The Grand Challenge of Equity in Education
The reform programs are formulated on the concept of equity in education: providing
more resources where there are shortages. This principle is applied throughout the educa-
tion system. “Achieving quality education for all” has been the guiding philosophy. In this
way, the reform programs represent the best that education policy has to offer.
All the programs strive to incorporate this principle. The P-900, the MECE-Rural pro-
gram and the preschool programs are particularly focused, through the use of new meth-
ods, on helping the most vulnerable sectors. The PME and MECE-secondary school bids,
while not specifically devoted to the poorest students, consider these groups by granting
awards to the schools in worst condition.
However, much work still needs to be done to make the Chilean school system a level
playing field: (1) financial resources for programs targeted to the poorest sectors account
for a relatively small percentage of the total educational reform budget when one consid-
ers the severity of the problems these sectors face; (2) some reform strategies are
insu∑cient to overcome shortages. In particular, the P-900 program has revealed a “hard-
core poverty” in education that shows a chronic inability to improve. In this sense the
PME appears to be appropriate for schools with a minimum level of resources but not for
th e n ew ch a l len g e: qua l ity and e q uit y i n e duc at i on 373
every school; and (3) in the poorest sectors, the fundamental equity problem — access to
education — has not been resolved.18
The main obstacle to improving the poorest schools, aside from their inability to use
new resources in positive ways, is that the reform programs clash with the existing cultur-
al trends of the students and the schools themselves. In poor areas, teachers and principals
face the challenge of developing an attitude for learning among students that makes stu-
dents open to another type of school culture.
The overall concepts of quality and equity are implicit in Mineduc’s programs and are
the crux of the MECE programs. However, more radical measures are required to ensure
that they are integrated into education policy.
This discussion of equality and equity requires asking more complex, theoretical
questions:
• What other segments of society need to take action so that investments in education,
which are regarded now as a matter of social policy, are more effective? In the education
policy of the 1990s, two occasionally antithical concepts guide government policy: the
State perceives education as a public policy designed to improve the country’s human
capital, but its involvement in education is also regarded as a type of social policy used to
narrow the gap between rich and poor. At the heart of the tension between the two aims
is the need to integrate the concept of education more deeply within the range of social
policy, and not just as a means of increasing economic activity.19
• How do reformers ensure that they attack different problems in diverse ways? The
success of reform is based on the notion that reformers are capable of generating
appropriate responses to every situation. Bad results do not always stem from the
same source, and merely equating poverty and low results is overly simplistic. Every
school has a different ability to use the resources it possesses. As such, studies on
resource shortages and the like can be problematic when used as criteria for designing
reform programs.
These questions once again reveal the urgent need for a systematic framework for
making evaluations, not just for general sectors, but rather for areas that have been neg-
lected. This subject takes on greater importance when one considers that more advan-
taged schools are better prepared to capitalize on reforms while the lack of resources tends
to chronically marginalize poorer schools.
Creating such an evaluation system is reliant, like everything else, on the most basic
assumption: that more resources can successfully narrow the gap between poor and rich
schools and make schooling more egalitarian. As was mentioned above, the amount of
investment in equity in education is still insu∑cient.
374 Isido ra Mena, Cristian Belleï
18 According to the 1996 Casen study, the difference in preschool coverage between the fifth and first socioe-
conomic quintiles is 26%; in secondary education, it is 22%. In 1994, the preschool rate of coverage in
urban areas was twice that of rural areas; in secondary education it was over 30%. Reformers have not
resolved this problem of equity and, based on their programming plans, are not prepared to do so.
19 See I. Núñez, “Politica social en educacion: equidad, calidad, cualidad” in the Revista de Trabajo Social
(Santiago) 68.
II. Reform Politics
1. FINANCING
Increasing Resources
At the outset of the first Concertación government, resource shortages were acute and
were felt in every sector of the education system: student subsidies were insu∑cient;
teacher salaries were very low; investments in infrastructure were stagnant; and funds for
improving education policy were almost non-existent. The 1980s was the decade of the
systematic collapse of education resources. Chile’s economic recession (1982-1983) and
lack of attention to education did not help matters. The economic growth of the late 1980s
did not improve the situation. In 1990, government expenditures on education had been
reduced by more than a quarter from their 1982 levels, even as enrollment figures rose
(especially in secondary schools).20
The Concertación governments have reversed this trend and have significantly
increased financing for education. The financial resources allocated to education in 1997
more than double those for 1990.
th e n ew ch a l len g e: qua l ity and e q uit y i n e duc at i on 375
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION EXPENSES, 1982-1997
Year Ministry of Education Expense Ministry of Education Expense Monthly Student Subsidy Subsidy Index
(millions of 1997 pesos) Index (1982 base=100) (in 1997 pesos) (1982 base=100)
1982 646,542 100 11,582 100
1983 599,666 93 9,955 86
1984 583,726 90 9,351 81
1985 583,148 90 8,784 76
1986 530,378 82 9,827 85
1987 487,771 75 9,226 80
1988 504,710 78 9,329 81
1989 492,615 76 9,345 81
1990 469,688 73 8,874 77
1991 511,120 79 9,159 79
1992 578,827 90 10,016 87
1993 646,871 100 10,904 94
1994 702,094 109 12,145 105
1995 810,308 125 14,346 124
1996 925,529 143 15,936 138
1997 1,032,262 160 17,214 149
Source: Ministry of Education, Planning and Budget Division 1997.
TABL E 7
20 In the case of elementary education, for example, coverage rose from 95% to 98% in spite of the fact that
100,000 less students enrolled during the decade.
However, despite this significant increase, the proportion of funds which education
receives from the government is still insu∑cient. It is lower than that of comparable coun-
tries and far from levels in developed nations.
Graph 2 shows that the Concertación governments have allocated increasing funds to
education as a share of the national budget. The total increase has been two percentage
points over 10 years, which is more than any other social sector and comparable only to
the increase in infrastructure. But when considered in light of its percentage of GDP — a
mere 3.1% — it becomes clear that education needs more fiscal attention. In fact, as a per-
centage of GDP, education in 1997 has not recovered the levels of a decade ago (which were
already a percentage point lower than earlier levels). Comparable countries have an aver-
age of 3.7% of total GDP for education, while in developed countries the figure stands at
over 5% (National Commission for the Modernization of Education, 1995).
It is clear that the volume of resources schools require can not be met by the State.
Keeping in mind the government’s pledge to continue increasing investment in education,
consensus exists that more private funds are necessary. There are a number of avenues
through which private institutions can contribute to education. The most important ones
are the Education Donation Law and Shared Financing Law, both from 1993.
The donation law provides a system of tax incentives to companies who contribute
money. Its effect has been limited, however, and it is not utilized often. It is only common-
place for schools that rely on corporations for funding. Municipal schools in particular
have failed to benefit from the law.21 In 1996, approximately 170 institutions received some
form of private donations totaling US$8 million (10% of this total was obtained through
shared financing). Among the principle causes for the under-utilization of the law are poor
information distribution about the project, complex legal technicalities, the fact that it
operated not through the school system but rather through a “parallel” system (Regional
376 Isido ra Mena, Cristian Belleï
21 Of the private resources earmarked for education in1996, 44% go to schools reliant on corporate financing,
43% go to public schools, and only 13% go to municipal schools.
PUBLIC RESOURCES ALLOTTED TO EDUCATION
Year As Percentage of Total Public Spending As Percentage of GNP
1987 13.7 3.2
1988 13.2 2.8
1989 13.1 2.6
1990 13.2 2.5
1991 13.4 2.6
1992 13.7 2.7
1993 13.8 2.8
1994 14.2 2.8
1995 14.9 2.8
Source: Budget Administration (1997) Estadística de las finanzas públicas, Ministry of Housing,
Santiago, Chile.
TABL E 8
Cooperation and Planning O∑ces) and the inferior nature of programs administered by
municipal and school o∑cials.
On the other hand, the shared financing system has enjoyed rapid and widespread
success. The system authorizes schools which receive state funds (except municipal ele-
mentary schools) to charge parents a monthly rate. In 1996, almost 25% of all students
attended school under the co-payment plan. The system generated US$150 million in its
first three years.22
The shared financing system has significantly increased school resources, but has also
had some negative side-effects such as reinforcing social segregation and segmentation
among students. In spite of its clear ability to generate much-needed financing, the sys-
tem’s divisive nature, especially since educational reform is meant to create opportunity
for all students, has called its legitimacy into question.
Clearly, both laws have had ambiguous results, especially in terms of exacerbating
inequalities in the system (perhaps because they were designed with financial criteria, not
educational reform, in mind).
Taken together, however, the prospects for public and private financing in the medi-
um term seem to be improving. The government, through its Finance Ministry, has
defined education as its “top priority” (1994) and established 7% of GDP as the national
investment goal. Later, the National Commission for Modernizing Education set the tar-
get at 8% of GDP for the year 2002.23
Use of Financial Resources
Educational reform has been concerned with boosting school financing. While much work is
still needed, this has dramatically improved the depleted state of school funding which the
Concertación governments inherited. Subsidies for students, after regaining previous values,
have risen 50% above initial levels. The quality-equity programs (P-900, MECE-Elementary,
and MECE-Secondary School) have received almost US$500 million, invested over the
decade. Investments in infrastructure have risen four-fold from US$22 million in 1990 to
US$88 million in 1996, in 1996 dollars. Teacher salaries have also spiraled 80% in real terms.
th e n ew ch a l len g e: qua l ity and e q uit y i n e duc at i on 377
SHARED FINANCING:TOTAL RESOURCES COLLECTED BY YEAR
(in millions of dollars)
1994 1995 1996 Total 1994-96
35 55 80 170
Source: Fortalecimiento Institucional, Ministerio de Educación
TABL E 9
22 It is worth making a comparison to emphasize the importance of these resources: in 1996, shared financing
brought in US$80 million. The total expenditure in that year for the MECE-Elementary and MECE-
Secondary School programs was US$66 million.
23 In 1994, the Commission estimated that 4.5% of GDP would go toward education. Other estimations put
the figure closer to 6%.
In general, school subsidies have risen. However, these gains are not spread equally
through the entire system. They have gone to areas which the government is eager to pro-
mote, such as special education and adult education, and to secondary school technical pro-
grams, where operating costs need to be met. In other areas, the government has raised the
minimum amount for rural schools and has perfected its internal system of calculating grants.
The government has focused on paying back debt, on the one hand, and on strategic
future investments, on the other. On both sides, a minimum acceptable threshold has been
established. As a result, certain groups have withheld their acquiescence to agreements on
certain issues until a satisfactory minimum floor on financial issues is met. This occurs
with financial backers in the case of subsidies and with teachers on salary issues. The
entire term of the first Concertación administration was spent recovering the previous
value of student subsidies. Meanwhile, salary increments for teachers are preceded by the
announcement that the increase is “better but not enough.”
The above, along with communication di∑culties among the various groups, explain
some of the di∑culty in converting the reform’s priority (expressed as bolstered financial
resources) into a political successful political reality (in terms of labor unions and vows of
support for the reform).
Remaining Tasks
With regard to school financing, one central issue remains unresolved: finding mecha-
nisms to distribute public resources to schools.
The per-student educational subsidy is one of the most important legacies of Chile’s
dictatorship because it was the cornerstone of the “education market” in the country.
Later, academics discredited these subsidies as a means of improving the quality of educa-
tion through competition. They said families were not choosing programs on the basis of
quality and that the system provoked distortions in the learning process. They also noted
that these subsidies made administration more di∑cult for some schools (see Espinola,
1989; or Cox and Courard 1996). Fifteen years of such subsidies have revealed that their
primary goals — e∑ciency and quality — have not been fully met. Of the two, only
e∑ciency has been partly achieved. Few people still believe that orthodox neo-liberalism
can generate quality education.
The Concertación maintained the subsidies for students because the government
thought they were a good source of financing and that they increased e∑ciency in educa-
tional investments. In practical terms, subsidy supporters say such financial aid helps to
cover the operating costs of different types of educational programs (technical, profes-
sional, humanistic, scientific, urban, and rural) while offering incentives for programs that
are not profitable from a market standpoint, such as programs for rural areas, low-density
areas and extreme poverty. Such a reality however would create a highly unbalanced sub-
sidy system, based solely on the plans of clients and available market options.
Furthermore, the government has recognized the intrinsic limitations of subsidies in
making sustained improvements in reform programs because their market orientation
leads them away from the reform’s goals of quality improvement and equal opportunity.
These goals require large pools of financial assistance guided by good policy, not market
profits or political games.
Unfortunately, no significant alternatives to subsidies are on the horizon despite the
fact that many groups reject them. Some liberal (associated by no means exclusively with
378 Isido ra Mena, Cristian Belleï
the political right) propose channeling all public resources for education into subsidy
increases. The government proposes complementing the subsidy system with other
means of financing.
The challenge in this area is identifying funding mechanisms that are geared toward
improving quality in education rather than merely providing services and that reorient
public o∑cials’ ability to allocate and channel funds for education.
2. TEACHERS
The definition of teachers labor’ terms and social function is by no means simple or agreed
upon. In recent times, the subject of teachers roles, qualifications, and identities have been
a subject of discussion.
• The tradition of state educators assigns teachers the role of public servant. Under that
definition, they operate under the guidelines of the government and local bureaucracies.
They also enjoy certain benefits such as job stability.
• Through the course of the labor struggle in Chile, teachers have been defined as workers
in education (as “intellectual workers”). This designation was intended to align them
with the working class and labor groups. This process was reinforced by the period of
“proletariatization” which teachers endured during the military regime.
• In the 1980s, the forces of decentralization and privatization made teaching a private
labor market, equating teachers with other types of workers. This stripped teachers of
their special status within the job market and provoked a sort of identity crisis.
• The ensuing academic debate has not resolved these identity questions, and there are
still different definitions of what teachers do and who they are.
The Concertación has defined a proposal to “professionalize” teachers but it has not
been fully developed. The government has not delved into the complexities of the philoso-
phy or history of teaching, and it has stopped short of developing a meaningful concept of
Chilean educators.
th e n ew ch a l len g e: qua l ity and e q uit y i n e duc at i on 379
MUNICIPAL SECTOR TEACHERS' SALARIES (30 HOUR WORK WEEK)
(in 1996 pesos)
Year Average Monthly Salary Accumulated Real Increase with
(Teacher employed 20 years) Respect to 1990 (percentages)
1990 141,674 –
1991 150,671 6.35
1992 173,438 22.42
1993 191,962 35.50
1994 218,741 54.40
1995 241,240 70.28
1996 256,997 81.40
Source: Ministry of Education,
La Reforma en marcha
, Santiago, Chile (no date)
TABL E 1 0
The central role teachers play in reforming education obliges the government to
resolve these issues. The first step in doing this is redefining teachers’ roles and unifying
their interests with reforms.
Taken together, the political policies directed at improving teachers’ working condi-
tions implemented over the last decade can be divided into three groups: (1) material
improvements and intellectual enrichment; (2) higher salaries; and (3) the elaboration of a
legal statute regulating teaching.
Material Improvements and Intellectual Enrichment
Each of the Education Improvement Programs introduced mechanisms to improve teach-
ing conditions. They provided teachers with better teaching materials, such as computers
and textbooks. With schools deciding autonomously how to use their funds, more money
is now being allocated to the teaching process. In addition, new resources are being devot-
ed to the intellectual enrichment of teachers themselves. These resources include manu-
als, self-teaching materials, and technical assistance.
The instructors have been slow to acknowledge these gains despite the fact that thou-
sands of them have benefited. There are two possible explanations for this phenomenon.
The first is that the government reform has offended teachers by emphasizing stu-
dents at their expense. In its public presentation of reform strategies, the government
omitted improving teaching resources. It has played up the reforms that improve education,
not those that improve the learning process. For teachers, it is di∑cult to see how the reforms
will improve their skills or develop their careers. Some see the reform as a mandate com-
ing from above that demands obedience from teachers.
The second explanation is that the teachers’ unions have not shown great foresight
with respect to the reform and the government, which the union regards as a failure in
defining teachers’ roles and objectives. The unions have not developed an adequate
framework for discussing the new changes that are sweeping through education. In
some ways, this refusal to acclimate to the new trends has excluded them from active
participation in the reform process. This situation is being played out in the schools
themselves with thousands of teachers taking sides on issues in which the unions are
not well-versed.
Salaries
At the end of the military regime, two problems plagued the discussion over teacher
salaries. First, there was the chronic deterioration of salaries which was a product of low-
ered subsidies. Salaries reached very low levels, approximately US$300 per month in real
terms. Second, the salary scale was varied because the job market had been deregulated
and different employers attached different values to teaching.24 Through 1991’s Law
19,070, which became known as the “Teachers Statute,” the government tried to correct
both problems. The law created a salary structure that provided benefits based on a num-
ber of special categories, such as experience, performance, working conditions (rural
380 Isido ra Mena, Cristian Belleï
24 The average hourly wage for elementary school teachers in municipal schools and private ones varied
between US$4.90 andUS$3.68.In the private schools, salaries ranged from US$8.21 to US$1.27 per hour.
(Mineduc 1997)
areas, isolated areas, social marginalization), and responsibilities.25 It also established
teachers’ right to a basic minimum salary (expressed in an hourly wage backed by law).
Through successive increases in the minimum salary26 and the establishment of a
minimum total salary (benefits included) if the benefits do not exceed a certain amount —
common among young professors in under-subsidized school zones — the two Concer-
tación governments have significantly lifted teachers’ salaries.
The government and the Teachers’ Board have negotiated every salary increase. Up
until now, three concepts have been used in making the increases, although the govern-
ment and the board have not seen eye-to-eye on them. The first, what is known as “basic
dignity” has been used to elevate the minimum salary. The government favors these
increases because they have an ethical component and they attract younger teachers. A
great symbolic step in this regard was taken in 1998 when the government decided to make
new teachers’ income equal to that of first-year public servants. Although the Teachers’
Board has often trumpeted this concept, recently they have come to realize that as a tool
this approach is ineffective in securing grassroots support within the organization (prima-
rily because it affects a very limited number of teachers who hold even more meager lob-
bying power). As the minimum national salary continues to rise, the concept of “mini-
mum income” is doomed to disappear or become part of the minimum salary.
The second concept guiding these increases, known as “public servant,” is oriented
toward associating salaries with a number of personal or labor conditions considered
valuable. These valued conditions are the entitlements and benefits noted earlier. This
package of benefits is highly valued by teachers’ unions. Accordingly, it is the least valued
by the government which is trying to weed traditional bureaucratic entitlements out of the
education sector (like all public sectors).
The third concept, known as “modern administration,” is associated with rewarding
teachers (either individually or collectively) for the achievements their students make.
The government favors this idea. The teachers’ unions have reacted stubbornly to this
practice in spite of the landmark 1994 agreement they reached with the government to cre-
ate the National System for Evaluating Subsidized Schools (SNED). SNED, which has had
a big impact in this area, was created via Law 19,410 in 1995. It was applied for a two-year
period for the first time in 1996, offering bonuses for excellence to teachers who work in
the top 25 percentile schools (2,274 schools that employ 30,600 teachers).
This new system has laid the foundation for future strategies based on similar concerns.
It has also provided criteria, specific rewards for excellence, for designing such strategies.
However, more work is needed to define the instances when salary negotiation is
appropriate and which players should be involved. In simple terms, the issue is whether
the government (the Finance Ministry) will continue playing the role of “employer” and
th e n ew ch a l len g e: qua l ity and e q uit y i n e duc at i on 381
25 These categories are only significant for the municipal sector. Professors who are contracted by private
schools which receive subsidies from the State have the right to the category benefits dealing with job con-
ditions. They also receive the right to collective bargaining (which does not exist in the municipal sector).
They often ask their employers to provide a package similar to category one.
26 This figure represents the base of any teacher’s total salary with the extra “category-based” money deter-
mined as a proportion of it. In this way, compensation for experience can be 100% of the minimum salary;
job performance, 40%; degree of di∑culty, 30%; and administrative responsibility, 20%.
the Teachers’ Board will continue acting as the “union representative” for the teachers. At
stake are serious issues involving policy, economics, and traditions in education.
For its part, the government has wavered on its role in this area, validating a central-
ized scheme for negotiations while arguing in public forums and in other labor disputes
that it would decentralize its operations.
Labor Statute
The “privatization” of the teachers’ job market during the military government, which
by law made teachers the employees of municipal and private schools, caused them to
lose long-held economic benefits and labor rights. In essence, it also caused a collective
identity crisis by undermining some of the criteria on which their identity had been
built. The results of the new trends — job insecurity, loss of protection from employers,
and lowered social status — gave the teachers more than enough ammunition to fight
the changes.
The first Concertación government acknowledged their demands and in 1991 set up a
special body of law to regulate the labor market: the Teachers’ Statute. The legislation gave
teachers more financial stability by setting up a salary scheme of minimum wages and
benefits. It also guaranteed teachers’ professional enrichment and career development.
The government was divided in its stance on the statute. Some thought it was ill-
advised to give teachers such special, open-ended rights. In the end, the ethical component
of the statute and the need for teachers’ participation in implementing reforms carried the
day for the law’s proponents in government. The Teachers’ Board however opposed the
regulation saying it was insu∑cient, and above all because the board distrusted the gov-
ernment’s pledge to raise wages immediately.
Since then, the statute has been modified. Municipalities (the principal employers
affected) and the political opposition lamented how rigid the market for teachers had
become. The statute, they said, had tied employers’ hands and was blocking the sector
from modernizing. Unions, after initial opposition, embraced the statute as a historic step
toward job security and stability.
But to assuage employers, the government tried in 1995 through Law 19,410 to make
the statute more flexible in terms of human resources. The modifications they introduced
included: limiting the term of school principals and that of the Municipal Education
Director to five years, lifting some guarantees on teachers’ contracts, and, through the
Annual Municipal Education Development Plan (Padem), hiring teachers according to
yearly budgets.
Chile is still trying to find a middle ground in the job market for teachers that
satisfies administrative responsibilities and is good for student education. The
Concertación has clearly strengthened the teachers’ hand in recent years. However, the
professors still harbor negative feelings toward the government for failing to do enough
to help them. The explication for these negative feelings despite government attempts to
improve teachers’ working conditions can be found in the relationship that has been
formed by the three major groups in this debate: the government itself, the Teachers’
Board, and the municipalities.
The teachers feel disillusioned with the government on salary issues. They have criti-
cized the government’s lack of communication with the teachers and their misreading of
teacher culture in policy-making. Meanwhile, the teachers in general are divided on the
382 Isido ra Mena, Cristian Belleï
stance of the Teachers’ Board. This division stems from the distance teachers perceive
between the board’s stance and the classroom reality in which teachers work. Last, the
teachers blame Mineduc for persistent problems with employers relating to legal issues.
The teachers feel as if the authorities in general have abandoned them to the cruelties of
the unregulated marketplace.
The challenge Mineduc faces is to unify the teachers around a coherent program. It needs
to strive to make improvements in the politics of teaching rather than just in teaching itself.
3. ADMINISTRATION
The most controversial change in Chile’s educational system implemented during the mil-
itary regime was the transfer of control of public schools from the Ministry of Education
to the various municipalities. Opponents of this shift, many of whom were teachers, had
three central complaints: (1) that the transfer was arbitrary, drastic, and “violent”; (2) that
the municipalities, because they were poorly run and undemocratic, were not suitable
school administrators; and (3) that transferring power to the municipalities was an inter-
mediary step towards privatizing the whole public school system.27
This shift took place in a global context of decentralization in education in which
international experts were arguing that decentralized schools were more e∑cient and
produced better results. They argued that more autonomous schools could adjust more
easily to changing social trends and thereby make education more pertinent to the lives
of students.
When democracy was restored in Chile, many members of the education community,
especially many teachers, hoped the new government would undo the changes made by
the military and assert greater central control. Without going that far, the Concertación
struck a middle ground. It valued the decentralized plan because it was more e∑cient and
helped schools reach out to their respective communities. At the same time, it recognized
that it had to play a larger role in education after years of deregulation which had left the
system partially weakened.
In taking the middle ground, the government tried to improve municipal administra-
tion. In this sense, it has taken a larger view of decentralization, not just in terms of how it
functions but also how it affects education in general.
th e n ew ch a l len g e: qua l ity and e q uit y i n e duc at i on 383
27 This proposed change never came to fruition. For economic reasons, the conversion of public schools to
private ones never occurred on a large scale (a minority of public professional schools — around 70 — were
turned over to companies). Interestingly though, the municipal sector has been losing students since 1980
while private, subsidized schools have gained students. While no new municipal schools were built, 1,200
new private schools were. In effect, the school system was being “privatized” in that more and more stu-
dents were attending private school.
Fiscal/Municipal Sector Subsidized Private Sector
Year Schools Students Percentages of Schools Students Percentages of
Total Enrollment Total Enrollment
1980 6,370 2,260,524 79 1,627 401,898 14
1996 6,536 1,828,022 56 2,996 1,079,924 33
Municipal Administration
Municipalities have been plagued for years by a lack of financing, political patronage, and
a shortage of long-term strategies. The added responsibility of running schools has aggra-
vated these chronic problems which in turn have negatively affected schools.28 These
issues have caused motivation problems among teachers and reignited old conflicts.
Teachers’ mistrust of the municipalities has risen, and they complain of an “absence” of
municipal leadership.
Considering that school resources, both financial and human, are subject to the rela-
tive wealth of the municipality, these problems are particularly acute in poor communi-
ties. In some small municipalities there are not enough resources to carve out an educa-
tional administration team from other areas.
Three proposals have been utilized to improve municipal administration. The first is
to make the municipal governments more democratic in composition and more receptive
to community participation. The second is to develop pilot programs and specialized stud-
ies in the field of educational administration.
The third and most important improvement came in 1995 with the creation of the
Annual Municipal Education Development Plan (Padem), which applied to every munici-
pality in the country. This plan outlined ways of increasing financial resources for local
governments and involved them in some long-term growth strategies. Although the law
that guides the plan instructs municipalities to create programs for schools in its commu-
nity, its main focus is forcing municipal governments to conserve financial and human
resources for education. This has provoked friction between schools and the municipal
governments because it has created the sensation in the schools that cutbacks and fiscal
conservancy (especially in the area of contracts for technical teachers) are necessary. This
sensation does not always result in action, which leaves both sides frustrated.
In-School Administration
In many schools, conditions of stiff hierarchy, bureaucracy, and overworked administra-
tors are commonplace. These problems tend to impede efforts to improve school adminis-
tration and ultimately affect the ability of educational reform programs to function.
The different administration improvement plans contemplate raising the expec-
tations for internal management. The programs, which sometimes do not fall under
the heading of “administration improvement,” ask teachers and administrators to
form teams, improve the e∑cient use of resources, and consult external groups and
agencies. All of these programs strive to make school administrations more
autonomous. Indeed, new government laws authorize and provide incentives for
municipal governments to hand over resources for education received from the
Ministry of Education, as well as resources generated within the schools, to the indi-
vidual establishments themselves.
However, in practice, the municipalities have been reluctant to turn over administra-
tive duties to schools. The establishments, in turn, have been hesitant to implement the
shift in the teaching paradigm. In fact, it would appear that the most important factor in
384 Isido ra Mena, Cristian Belleï
28 In some cases, the municipalities have failed to carry out basic responsibilities such as paying teachers and
honoring contracts.
determining the viability, quality, and sustainability of these improvement processes is the
quality of the institutional context. That relationship is not always circumscribed to the
school but tends to involve school owners and the regional and local divisions of the
Mineduc itself.
Ministry of Education
The biggest challenge for the Ministry of Education, even in a world of decentralized
education, was to regain a position of leadership within the system. Its goal was at the
very least to use the Regional Education Departments, which made up the Ministry’s
supervision network, to act as a consultant on education to the schools and municipali-
ties.
29
The Ministry placed the highest priority on doing this in poorer areas where aca-
demic achievement was low. This attitude shift was significant because in the 1980s
schools did not receive counseling or support from either municipal governments or the
Ministry itself
.
A number of innovations to improve the regional departments of the Ministry
(including the Regional Secretariats) were carried out. In addition, the Ministry created a
fund for schools to finance their own reform initiatives.
The abilities and administrative capacities of the Regional Education Departments
vary from o∑ce to o∑ce and have not been the focus of major reform. In many cases, these
departments are bloated bureaucracies and provide poor advice and technical information
to schools. The Ministry itself suffers to a lesser extent from similar problems, those char-
acteristic of any large public agency. These include duplication of functions, lack of coor-
dination, and rigid structures.
In general, improvements in Ministry administration at its different levels have not
occurred even in reforming education or in meeting the government’s pledges. With all
the attention on targeting education policy “in the classroom,” modernizing administra-
tion within the various state organizations has fallen by the wayside.
The following factors will continue to be central to the success of state administration
in education: (1) human communications, working practices, and forms of using authori-
ty; (2) facilitating resources to schools, promoting reforms, and honoring pledges to
teachers; and (3) capable support systems for technical assistance, improved information
network, and quicker project approval. Studies have shown, however, that reforms dealing
with these factors have only marginal effects.
The Pending Debate
There has not been an adequate, informed debate in Chile concerning the administration
of schools that are decentralized, yet successful and legitimate. Filling the void left by this
lack of discussion are various counter-proposals, with implicit and explicit motives, and a
sensation that the current system is reaching a crisis.
Conservative groups — associated with the political opposition, although not exclu-
sively — push to continue centralizing schools through privatizations. The municipali-
ties, despite some exceptions, generally demonstrate disinterest in running schools and
th e n ew ch a l len g e: qua l ity and e q uit y i n e duc at i on 385
29 The most concrete aspect of this shift was to give the heads of the Regional Education Departments the
authority to install the various reform programs throughout the rest of the system. This meant that they
would act as advisors and consultants on the various projects.
clamor for more state support and intervention. Teachers and their political allies reject
municipal control, even though they have not offered an alternative plan. The government
has not taken a firm stance on the issue, opting to favor an eclectic group of principles
around loose support for decentralization. The government, to teachers, has come off
looking timid and uncreative.30
The decentralization plan created over 15 years ago has not proved to be temporary, as
was intended. As a system, its legitimacy is still being questioned and its future is by no
means certain. The search for viable alternatives is still underway.
4. THE FINAL DISCUSSION: THE PUBLIC/PRIVATE RELATIONSHIP IN
CHILEAN EDUCATION
Within the global context, the educational system implemented by the military government
in the last decade (o∑cially called “modernization”) in effect turned over education to mar-
ket forces. The pillar of this transformation was subsidizing the demand for education as a
means of financing the schools themselves. The schools would compete to win “clients” and
the state mandated that the schools would be paid after they performed their services. In this
fashion, families were to shop around for the best offers to suit their needs. In doing so, the
families effectively regulated the whole system. Schools offering the best services at the low-
est costs would be able to develop and make a name for themselves in the market.
Within this system, the various reform programs were implemented. The decentral-
ized nature of the system sought to grant more autonomy to schools, to increase competi-
tion among them, and pave the road for total privatization (this of course has not yet
occurred). In effect, the line between private and public schools was blurred. The system
for compiling information about the schools (Simce) was meant to inform families about
the best offers. The absence of regulations in the use of resources would permit new
administrative strategies (thus the liberalization of the market for teachers). Finally, the
LOCE programs made curriculum requirements more flexible, providing parents with dif-
ferent options, i.e. diversified offers, in choosing a school.
There are three fundamental limitations in the military regime’s educational system:
(a) Competition between schools may increase the e∑cient use of resources but it does not
make the learning process, or the quality of education, any more effective. This occurs
to a large extent because of the nature of consumer culture in Chile. Many families lack
the perspective to make rational consumer decisions and the criteria to evaluate the
services received. Some families find it hard to distinguish between offers. The lack of
public control over the service — sometimes none at all — does not help matters.
(b) The system does not recognize the principal public services that education provides.
The central ones are:
• equity: in Chile, the market system is slanted against the poorest students and
386 Isido ra Mena, Cristian Belleï
30 The Concertación’s support in principle of the military government’s decentralization plan angered many
of their traditional political allies, especially teachers and unions. The government has not organized a
capable communications network to smooth over these issues with these groups.
communities31 and disregards the state’s duty to provide equal access to education.
• national competitiveness: considering that education is a key to economic devel-
opment, the low quality of teaching the system provides, and its inability to servic
the needs of the best students is a detriment to national competitiveness in the
global context.
(c) The system lacks the institutional administrative basis to provide a good education
and opportunities for development. In all three tiers of education — schools, munici-
palities, and the Ministry of Education — administrative conditions and capacities
are extremely precarious. The decentralization plan was carried out without training
for the administrators to give them the skills they need to function in the new system.
In some divisions, whole areas of education are neglected while in others they are
duplicated.
Assuming that the structural reforms of the 1980s — making the use of resources
more e∑cient, decentralizing the administrative structure — are continued, the
Concertación’s current stance on education seems to combine old and new strategies. In
general, the government proposes a school system that combines:
• market instruments
• a strong role for the state, in terms of reform and control
• decentralized administrative organization
This system strives to safeguard educational norms from the mechanical operation of
market forces. It also tries to maintain the essential public service components of educa-
tion. The Concertación’s position will face a bigger challenge in the future as it deals with
increasingly complicated issues related to education, such as economic development and
changing cultural attitudes. Traditional pillars of education are also being weakened, com-
plicating the picture.
In general, since the recuperation of democracy, the results of the Concertación’s
efforts in education can be categorized as significant advances, important problems, and
unresolved issues.
Advances
The Concertación has been successful in repositioning education as a top social issue. The
government has taken a principled stand on improving education and that has attracted
the attention of actors in civil society, who have taken greater interest in education.
Government Commitment
The increased and sustained financing that the government has provided to schools has
demonstrated its serious interest in improving education. Without alienating private
th e n ew ch a l len g e: qua l ity and e q uit y i n e duc at i on 387
31 There are many reasons for this: (a) private schools (which are generally better than their municipal peers)
are not interested in serving students from poor areas. This disinterest is the basis for a type of geographi-
cal discrimination, especially in rural and low-density zones, because only municipal schools operate
there. It also represents a type of academic discrimination as poor students never receive the opportunities
provided in the private schools; and (b) the financial resources of the municipalities are also skewed, with
the poorest municipalities providing the least money to education in their own communities.
financiers (whose contributions it needs), the government has promised to increase edu-
cation funding in coming years. It has also set for itself the goal of quality education avail-
able for all. In this regard, it has developed programs that have shifted the nature of educa-
tion reform from coverage to quality. The programs themselves are powerful signals that
government is committed to changing the system. Behind these developments is the gov-
ernment’s desire to regain legitimacy as the top player in Chilean education.
The Ministry of Education has shown it is capable of designing quality programs
which combine various mechanisms: (1) to allow the Ministry to intervene in the system;
(2) to make schools more autonomous; and (3) to connect schools with other actors inside
and outside the educational system, such as universities, academic centers, social groups,
and businesses, all of whom can play important roles.
Civil Society Involvement
The government, in making education a political priority over the last decade, has posi-
tioned school reform in the larger national debate over civil issues. The government’s
commitment has maintained a coherent direction that has resulted in a long-term consen-
sus on reforming education.32 The creation of the National Commission on Modernizing
Education has been a significant achievement in this regard.
The school system, and the private establishments in particular, have increasingly
shut themselves off from general society. In fact, their key players perceive this distancing
as normal and desirable, in part due to a culture in which responsibility for education must
be “delegated” to specialized agencies and appropriate authorities. The most important
efforts made to overcome this culture and transform the relationship are: financial sup-
port to families; increased participation among non-school groups in reforming curricula;
empowering universities and academic institutions to be more involved in teacher train-
ing and to help Mineduc design and evaluate its policies; and create community education
networks to make innovative recommendations.
Problems
There are a number of problems that have been addressed by reforms but have shown little
improvement. Foremost among them is equal opportunity for education.
While some advances have been made, inadequate designs, limited resources, and the
intrinsic complexities of the problem have slowed progress. In general terms, addressing
this problem runs contrary to some of the society’s most basic cultural and societal
assumptions. Furthermore, existing inequalities have deviled even the most well-inten-
tioned programs aimed at creating equity. Last, current configurations in education, from
teaching methodology to study habits to curricula, have an intrinsic bias against the poor.
Some successes in this area confirm the effectiveness of public sector support for
equal opportunity in education. More creative and widespread attempts at reform, admin-
istrative changes in the poorest schools, incentives for new programs, and investments in
poor schools appear to be necessary.
388 Isido ra Mena, Cristian Belleï
32 This consensus exists on fundamental education issues, like teaching improvements and curricular
changes, rather than on “contextual issues” like administration, school control, and labor laws. In gener-
al, the progress made in creating agreement on the first group of issues has come at the expense of the lat-
ter group.
Another problem is the dearth of mechanisms the government has to guarantee quality
education. Despite the features of a decentralized, market-dependent system, the govern-
ment should have important powers of evaluation, as well as supervision and enforcement.
The system of evaluating educational quality has logistical problems in terms of how and
what it measures. (It needs to anticipate curriculum and teaching changes better.) But more
importantly, its focus should be expanded beyond just achievements by schools and students
to cover the entire system, including issues of curriculum, teaching, and administration.
With respect to evaluating professional personnel in education, there have been few
advances but many heated debates. The National System for Evaluating Subsidized Schools
(SNED) is a positive step towards improving the methodology with which schools are eval-
uated. However, it is utilized to evaluate professionals in schools and therefore renders the
system outlined by the Teachers’ Statute limited and, sometimes, irrelevant.
Moreover, an important issue is how the information gathered in the evaluations is
to be used. Clearly, the initial definition of “consumer information” fails to consider any
considerations beyond private, personal interests. Nonetheless, other uses of the data can
also be made in the public interest: to evaluate programs, detect problem areas, and tar-
get investments.
The government’s systems for monitoring and evaluating are also flawed because they
do not reflect the realities of the new educational context. Bureaucratic and out-dated
practices are still used. In addition, the number of skilled professionals to conduct studies
has fallen off, causing distortions throughout the system and hindering all kinds of efforts
from compiling information to making recommendations for new reforms.
Last, as discussed above, the administrative cogs at this level of government are in
need of modernization. Mineduc, while showing signs of improvement in its administra-
tion, has lost ground in its regional and local o∑ces. This lack of sound management has
spread throughout the system, crippling municipalities and schools themselves.
Unresolved Issues
There are still a number of decisions to be made in order to secure the educational system
we have (and want), although consensus on them does not currently exist. It is not that
these issues have been ignored, but rather that they are still mired in ambiguity because no
proper solutions or agreements on them have been reached.
What is the minimum that the state should demand of educational-service provider institu-
tions? How should that be done? In effect, the legal system establishes certain minimum
requirements on schools in order to grant them o∑cial recognition and for them to receive
state subsidies.33 However, the oversight mechanisms are limited and minimally enforced.
This is not only because it is di∑cult to overcome a tradition of lip service to regulations,
but also because it is unclear what should be enforced and what should not. In the confu-
sion, the state’s requirements of school operators who receive public funding suffer. There
are many examples to be found in an array of areas: the huge number of classroom hours
th e n ew ch a l len g e: qua l ity and e q uit y i n e duc at i on 389
33 For o∑cial recognition: have a financial backer who holds at least a high school diploma, follow plans and
programs submitted to and approved by Mineduc, have appropriate staff, operate in an appropriate facility,
and have basic equipment. For subsidies: be o∑cially recognized, have a student/classroom ratio within the
standards, provide education at the level stated, and be up-to-date in the payment of staff salaries and social
security benefit payments. This clearly establishes a minimum — but entirely insu∑cient — floor.
wasted each year, facilities with severe infrastructure problems (health, safety, and livabil-
ity), administrative problems with the staff (lack of contracts and unpaid social security
taxes), and discrimination among students (expulsions and arbitrary selections). It is
clearly insu∑cient that the State limit its role to “paying for services rendered” since that
position is based on a concept of education as a private good. The collective good is above
that (manifested in the enormous sums of public resources allocated to these service
providers each year) and as such is entitled to more stringent requirements and more
effective enforcement by government o∑cials.
Who should finance public education? The sectors that oppose municipal control (an odd
coalition of those who want to privatize the system and those who want to return control
to the government) seem to forget the precarious situation in which the system has oper-
ated. This may be because the approach was always thought of as a stepping stone to a
totally private system. It is as if the critics berated the municipal system without ever giv-
ing it the organizational and technical infrastructure it needed to thrive. In fact, municipal
management has some comparative advantages in light of the other options. However, it
would be foolish to close the doors to other financial alternatives, which, in order to be
successful, would have to promote participation and community involvement. This kind
of alternative would have to be based on the concept that education is an inalienable social
right, necessary for social development, and not merely a set of traditional policies that
need to be conserved.
What is the right financial mechanism for funding education? Despite criticism, subsidies
continue to be the leading form of financing education. There are good reasons for this,
but we have to consider their advantages and disadvantages. At this time, subsidies are
only used to finance students’ presence in classroom. But subsidies that consider the qual-
ity of education, as well as place value on the care and results of students in different
socioeconomic levels, could be a valuable development.
Complementary improvements that can improve financing include: providing more
funding for school projects; perfecting the incentives system for teachers and ultimately
for investors; focusing reform programs on priority groups; and avoiding creating incen-
tives for private investment that reinforce current tendencies to invest in certain areas at
the expense of others.
390 Isido ra Mena, Cristian Belleï
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