The Discursive Production of Student's Profile in Chile's New School Admission System

• In Event: Disability and the Policy Enactment of Global Education Policies in Italy, Chile, and the United States

Abstract

a. Objectives or purposes
This paper analyzes the discourses of the traditional/normal profile of students, along with the emergent discourses of the new/non-traditional profile of students that started to attend to Schools of High Academic Standards (SHAS), after the implementation of a new School Admission System (SAE) in Chile. The SAE is a lottery-based online system in which families apply to schools under a free school choice policy. This educational reform has challenged the SHAS to keep their academic excellence but including students from more diverse social and educational backgrounds.

b. Perspective(s) or theoretical framework
From a critical perspective on discourses of normalcy (Davis 1995; Campbell 2008, 2009), and considering tenets from Critical Disability Studies (Goodley 2013; Goodley et al. 2018), this paper addresses the production of discourses of normalcy and abnormalcy in SHAS, when a more diverse composition of students challenges the traditional profile of competent students of these schools.

c. Methods, techniques, or modes of inquiry
From a qualitative perspective and through in-depth interviews, this study seeks to explore into the voices and discourses of principals and teachers from 14 SHAS across Chile. The data collected was analyzed through an applied critical discourse analysis (Fairclough 2013), seeking to detect and characterize the discourses of the traditional and non-traditional profiles of students of these SHAS, after the implementation of the SAE.

d. Data sources, evidence, objects, or materials
We conducted in-depth interviews with 7 to 9 social actors (principals, teachers, among others relevant to the purposes of this study) inside each of the 14 schools. The sample of schools was defined through the analysis of administrative data on the SHAS, which is made publicly available by the Ministry of Education, considering the students’ enrolment fluctuations in each school after the implementation of the SAE.

e. Results and/or substantiated conclusions or warrants for arguments/point of view
The tension between pursuing high academic standards, and the demand for educational inclusion has reinforced school staff’s perceptions of the traditional/regular student of their classrooms, a competent and adaptable student for a demanding academic environment. In contrast, school staff perceived the new/non-traditional student as lacking attitudes and skills to face the SHAS’s academic contexts. Perceptions of this latter group of students were confounded with perceptions of students with disabilities, which implies an emerging discursive tension between normalcy and abnormalcy from the perspectives of the professionals.

f. Scientific or scholarly significance of the study or work
The Chilean educational system, internationally known for its highly marketized educational system (Verger et al. 2016), in recent years has moved towards a more inclusive policy frame that has challenged schools shaped by a very competitive environment. The sample of schools researched enlightens the discursive tensions experienced by principals and teachers under an inclusive policy reform, now challenged to keep their academic performance but with a more diverse profile of students in their classrooms. The presentation, thus, examines the unintended consequences of educational policies driven by inclusive rationales.

Author

• Juan de Dios Oyarzun, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso
  Presenting Author