Contextual Background and Rationale for the Nueva Educación Pública

• In Event: System Reform at the Intermediate Level of Public Education in Chile: Year 1 Implementation

Abstract

This presentation introduces the historical and contextual background leading up to the NEP reform. Since 1981 the administration of public school education in Chile has been the responsibility of local municipalities as part of a reform that delegated more resources and responsibilities to local governments. Since the return to democracy in 1990, the local governments, other than the election of municipal authorities (e.g., mayors), have not experienced significant changes in the administration of public services. In the realm of education, the general state public school education has steadily deteriorated. The percentage of enrolment in public schools has declined from 80% to 36%, and continues to fall. The average student performance on annual national assessments is below that of students attending subsidized private schools, though this gap is known to be associated with the higher proportion of socio-economically disadvantaged pupils served by the public schools (McEwan & Carnoy, 2000). The municipalities have not had the capacity to resolve the needs for new and improved infrastructure in expanding urban population centers. Financial and administrative management of the public schools by the municipalities not only reflects an enormous variability in resource capacity of the 345 municipalities, but is also plagued by a lack of transparency in decision-making, chronic resource deficits, lack of professional expertise to support teaching and school leadership, and a loss of confidence on the part of citizens in the municipal government capacity to deliver quality education (author, 2010).
In 2006 a national student movement demanded structural reforms to the Chilean school system. Successive governments adopted various system-wide changes leading to significant increases in per capita funding for the most vulnerable students and more rigorous professional standards for teachers and principals, but without noticeable impact on public school performance and confidence. Proposals for more fundamental institutional reform (the NEP) were finally legislated near the end the government of M. Bachelet (2014-2018). This reform proposes the creation of new public bodies at the intermediate level specialized solely in education (70 Local Education Services ‘Servicios Locales de Educación Pública’ or SLEP), each of which will be responsible for administration of education previously performed by two to five neighboring municipal governments. The change will occur gradually across the country between 2018-2025. Director of each SLEP Directors will be appointed following the standard procedures for selection of public administrators within the national civil service system. Although the SLEP will function as autonomous services, their finances and personnel are subject to the same regulations as any other centralized public service. The relationship of the SLEPs to the central government and the Ministry of Education will be mediated by a new Dirección Nacional de Educación Pública (DEP). In order to provide for local involvement in education decision-making, each SLEP will incorporate two forms of institutionalized participation- a Comité Directivo and a Consejo Local ‘Local Council’- that include representation from the former municipal authorities, parents, and school personnel. Our study investigated the installation and first year implementation of the first four Servicios Locales de Educación Pública.

Author

• Juan Pablo Valenzuela, Universidad de Chile