Restructuring Education through Economic Competition: The Case of Chile
| Date | 01 April 1991 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000002471 |
| Published date | 01 April 1991 |
| Author | Ernesto Schiefelbein |
| Subject Matter | Education |
Restructuring
Education
17
Restructuring Education
through Economic
Competition: The Case of
Chile
Ernesto Schiefelbein
UNESCO, Chile
Chile had already achieved four key education targets in 1970:
(1) All children willing to join the education system could enrol in schools.
(2) Teachers' upgrading, free textbook distribution and quality testing were
gradually raising students' achievement levels.
(3) All members of younger generations were reaching minimum literacy
levels (measured through self-assessment in population census).
(4) Nearly
10
per cent of the 18-22 age group was enrolled at the university
and benefited from the presence of
many young
professors who had been
trained abroad since the mid-1950s and were back in Chile carrying out
up-to-date research.
Based upon a long tradition during the democratic regime of President Frei,
enough classrooms were built for
an additional 20
per cent of the primary school-
age population. Therefore by 1970 some 95 per cent of each single age group
was enrolled in the educational system[1]. At the end of the Allende regime,
most of the children were enrolling at the age of seven. In addition to equity
in access, differences between the two types of primary schools (the track
for wealthy students was attached to high schools) were eliminated and primary
education was extended to eight grades to increase the scarce opportunities
available for rural students
[2].
Quality of education was presented to public opinion as the main challenge
for education[3]. Active learning and learning to learn were the objectives of
complementary strategies. First-grade repetition rates, which were close to
50 per cent in the early 1960s
[4],
were cut down to 30 per cent during the
1960s by upgrading teachers, distributing free textbooks, allocating additional
time for slow
learners,
providing food for students
in
the lower half of
the
income
distribution, and by substantially increasing teachers' salaries[5]. Four annual
quality testings of all students graduating from primary education (1968-1971)
and careful analysis of the factors affecting achievements were carried out for
the first time in a developing country
[6].
Biennial meetings of educational
researchers started a process of internal self-assessment of educational
issues[7].
Journal of Educational
Administration, Vol. 29 No. 4, 1991,
pp.
17-29. © MCB University
Press.
0957-8234
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