Strong Content, Weak Tools: 21st-Century Competencies in Chilean Educational Reform

• In Event: 46.047 - Education for the 21st Century: A Six-Country Examination of National Curricular Frameworks and Priorities

Abstract

Objectives
We look at the place the 21st century competencies (21CC) approach occupies within Chilean primary and secondary education since these skills were incorporated to the national curricula, in the context of a broader educational reform implemented during the mid-1990s. We analyze the interplay between the relevance assigned to these new competencies, and the goals and emphases of educational policies and programs oriented to implement them in the actual educational system. The study contributes to critically discussing the priorities of the Chilean educational policies in the last two decades; also, by expanding the concept of quality education, it paves the way for further studies on the relevance of 21CC on both educational policies and school effectiveness research.

Perspectives
The introduction of the 21CC approach to Chilean education is studied as a case of educational policy facing two main sources of complexities. Curriculum reforms have to overcome several challenges to transform the actual students’ experiences at school level, from creating consensus among policy makers on the relevance and direction of the changes, to implementing appropriate teacher training and teaching materials to adopt the new ideas. Also, the market oriented Chilean educational system imposes additional difficulties, since educational authorities have weak institutional links to school managements.

Methods
This is a case study on the introduction of 21CC to Chilean primary and secondary education in the process of a sustained educational reform. The study is based on three kinds of sources: i) analysis of official documents (such as laws, white papers of the education ministry and ministries’ speeches) and specialized literature on the Chilean educational reform; ii) interviews of policy makers, academic experts, and educators; and iii) review of the national curricula for secondary education, using content analysis techniques.

Results
In terms of content, the introduction of the 21CC to the Chilean national curricula is consistent with the international guidelines: it covers the system as a whole, considers them as principles and as contents, remains open to the redefinition of subject matters and knowledge areas, combines higher-order thinking, inter-personal and intra-personal skills. However, these competencies are not made of a single stone, and their actual adoption by the Chilean education has been uneven. This seems to be related to a weakness of the implementation devices (teaching materials, teachers’ training, school improvement programs, student assessment) designed to incorporate 21CC as in actual learning experiences within school and classroom dynamics. This weakness is also associated with the increasing relevance of test-based accountability policies in Chile, as a response to low students’ performance in both national and international standardized tests, which has resulted in a refocus on the acquisition of basic reading, writing, and math skills.

Significance
The discordance between contents and implementation devices of the 21CC approach in primary and secondary education explains its perceived low impact and arguable postponement in Chilean teaching priorities. At the same time, the growing emphasis on basic skills acquisition, driven by standard based reforms, makes it increasingly difficult to prioritize the 21CC approach at both policy and school level.

Authors

• Cristian Bellei, Universidad de Chile

• Liliana Morawietz, Universidad de Chile