Three Equity-Oriented Policies That Failed Immigrant Students of African Descent in Chile’s Neoliberal Education System

• In Event: School Choice Research: Understanding Persistent Problems Through New Lenses

Abstract

This ethnographic case study, grounded in more than 600 hours of participant observation and 119 transcripts, illuminates how a school with high enrollment of emergent multilingual immigrant students of African descent (EMISAD), mediates three equity-oriented education policies that aim to correct the flaws of Chile’s neoliberal education system. This research illustrates the burden for schools and EMISAD to access the benefits of these initiatives. On the one hand, these policies were not designed to support these students, and on the other, there has been a lack of political willingness throughout the political spectrum to update these initiatives since the influx of immigrant students skyrocketed in Chile, going from 0.6% in 2014 to 6.6% in 2022.

Author

• Maria Eugenia Rojas Concha, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso