The Political Economy of Regulation: Chile’s Educational Reforms since the return of democracy

• In Event: Roundtable Group 11
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Politics, Systems Thinking, and the Development Agenda: A roundtable discussion on the politics of educational reform and learning

Proposal

A hot issue on education reform during the last decade is whether some kind of demand subsidies such as vouchers should replace traditional financing mechanisms where resources transferred to districts or schools are determined by historic and supply side considerations. In the public administration literature, the first is associated with new public management while the second is linked to traditional (Weberian) public administration frameworks. New paradigms have been emerging that are more adequate to address complex issues and heterogeneous needs, such as new public services (), new public governance (ref) and public value (ref). Their implications for education financing and administration have not been so far explored. This is the first contribution of the paper on which this roundtable presentation is based. After carefully examining the key differences of both perspectives for education financing reform, the paper analyzes the historic events that have shaped the voucher system in Chile, to our understanding the third oldest in the world (after The Netherlands and Belgium) and the rationality behind those changes, showing they are more closely related to a new public management logic than a public value perspective. It is argued that the rationality behind reforms such as the Quality Assurance System, The Teacher career, Means tested vouchers and centralized admissions is neoclassical economic theory, in particular market failure theory. Arguments based on alternative theories are not considered in public discourse.

The top-down nature of such policy-making, and the insufficient use of institutional voice mechanisms, are not likely to improve learning, especially as social movements contest these systems. This analysis suggests that citizen voice can play a pivotal role in shaping a coherent system, and that dialogue beyond political and economic elites is important in order to strengthen the system. Overall, insights from this individual participation contribute to our understanding of the complex barriers that systems face—many of them political -- in pivoting towards learning, as well as the features that have potential to enable the right conditions for a coherent, well-financed system.

Author

• Pablo Alberto González Soto, University of Chile