Context Matters! A Multicase Study of New Public Management Policies in Chilean Teacher Education

• In Event: Teacher Education and Teacher Quality: Cross-National Perspectives

Abstract

Teacher Career Law policy, approved in 2016 in Chile, intensified New Public Management logic in Teacher Education (TE), establishing national selection criteria, mandatory accreditation, new TE standards, and two student teachers´ assessments. This two-year multi-case study inquires on teacher educators’ interpretation and responses to this policy and their relation to TEP’s contextual factors. Professional culture is related to the interpretation and response of all regulations. Interpretations and responses to accreditation were associated with the perception policy influence, results, and available resources, especially during the pandemic. TEPs’ selectivity, diversity, and institutional efforts jeopardized by the sanitary emergency are relevant for interpreting and responding to admission changes. Teacher educators from regional programs interpreted assessments and standards as restrictive frameworks for achieving equity.

Authors

• Maria Beatriz Fernandez Cofre, Universidad de Chile

• Loreto Fernández, Universidad Alberto Hurtado

• Catalina Cuenca, Universidad Alberto Hurtado