Comparative Analysis of Migrant Educational Inclusion in Colombia and Chile: the role of School Leaders’ Discretion

• In Event: Towards integration, inclusion, and belonging across the educational trajectory: Venezuelan migrants living and learning in a Latin American host countries

Proposal

Colombia and Chile have become major destinations for the large influx of Venezuelan migrants,
leading to a significant increase in the enrollment of Venezuelan students, now exceeding 5% in
both countries ( Diaz Rios & Urbano-Canal, 2022 ; CEM, 2023). Despite mandates for diversity and inclusion, the neoliberal rationality in Chile’s education sector has standardized educational practices, supposedly hindering changes to include migrants (Jiménez & Valdés, 2021) . In contrast, schools and subnational jurisdictions in Colombia enjoy considerable autonomy, which is expected to foster practices that recognize the diverse identities of the student population, including migrants (Diaz-Rios et al., 2024) . However, despite these differences, educational inclusion of migrants in both countries has largely been reduced to providing access to education. Most schools do not develop initiatives to promote academic integration or a sense of belonging, continuing instead with assimilationist practices that attempt to fit migrant students into the existing mold rather than adapting to and valuing their diverse backgrounds (Beniscelli et al., 2019; Alarcón-Leiva & Gotelli-Alvial, 2021; Valdés & Fardella, 2022). What explains these similarities in responses in countries with very different policy orientations?

This presentation addresses this question by combining data from interviews with 23 school
leaders conducted as part of two different projects exploring the educational responses to
Venezuelan migrants. Drawing on street-level bureaucrats theory (Lipsky, 2010) , we argue that
the similarities in responses across both educational systems are shaped by how school leaders
use their discretion to address the pressures of including culturally diverse populations. In Chile,
accountability pressures and the perception that migrants are good students have led school
leaders to routinize the inclusion of Venezuelan students by maintaining traditional practices. In
Colombia, school leaders routinize their inclusion practices due to resource constraints and the
absence of policy mandates for migrant inclusion beyond access. In both cases, school leaders
lack the motivation or see no need to invest additional effort in integrating migrants academically
and socio-culturally. They often believe that developing specific curriculum and pedagogical
strategies for Venezuelan students would exacerbate differences and have counterproductive
effects. Consequently, they promote assimilationist practices and make minimal efforts to
prevent discrimination.

This research suggests that policy, or the lack thereof, alone cannot explain the outcomes of
educational inclusion for migrants. It is also crucial to consider the role of school leaders’
discretion in shaping and enacting this inclusion. By comparing two distinct educational
contexts, this study reveals how systemic pressures and local autonomy interact to produce
similar outcomes, despite differing institutional frameworks. These findings provide valuable
insights for policymakers and educators aiming to develop more inclusive educational strategies
that go beyond mere access and foster genuine integration and a sense of belonging for migrant
students.

Authors

• Carolina Cuéllar, Universidad Católica Silva Henríquez

• Claudia Milena Diaz-Rios, OISE University of Toronto