The Debate on Admission Selectivity in Chilean Teacher Education: Educational Equity, Education Quality, and the Professionalization of Teaching in Chile.

• In Event: Teacher workforce dynamics in Latin America: Navigating system pressures and professional agency across Chile, Colombia, and Peru

Proposal

In 2016, Law 20.903, also known as Ley de Carrera Docente, was approved by Congress in Chile. The purpose of this law was to improve teacher careers over time. The reform covered different stages of teacher education and work, from recruitment to a career ladder that led to higher salaries. Alongside new accreditation rules for teacher preparation programs, this reform also set higher entrance requirements which in Chile are based on academic achievement. Specifically, this reform aimed at implementing progressively higher cut-off exam scores in the national university access exam together with an increased importance of high school GPA for teacher education program entry. The rationale was that greater selectivity would raise the social value of the teaching profession and attract more interest from high school students with top grades. However, some argue that while the increased selectivity for pre-service teacher education was supported when the law was passed, the main concern then was teacher quality and effectiveness, not teacher shortage (Correia et al., 2022).

According to Elige Educar (2022), between 2011 and 2022 enrollment in teacher preparation programs declined by an average of 7% per year. Although several factors help explain this decrease in enrollment, the rise in selectivity for admission has been identified as one important contributing factor (Ministerio de Educación de Chile, Subsecretaría de Educación Superior, 2021; Ministerio de Educación, 2024). As a result, the progressive increase in selectivity has been adjusted over time to reduce the unexpected negative consequences of declining enrollment that the law might have produced (Ministerio de Educación de Chile, Subsecretaría de Educación Superior, 2021). In addition to concerns regarding enrollment, some authors argue that using academic achievement as the sole factor for university admission process can undermine teacher diversity by not allowing students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to apply to teacher preparation programs (Correia et al., 2022).

Nowadays, how future teachers should be selected for entry into teacher education programs remains a topic of debate. Some argue that it is important to continue raising selectivity, as was originally proposed in the Ley de Carrera Docente, while others contend that this would only worsen the teacher shortage and limit opportunities for high school students from low socioeconomic backgrounds to pursue the profession. In this context, this study aims to explore how the public and policy debate over raising the admission score for the teaching profession in Chile is constructed. Specifically, using a qualitative approach, it examines the core arguments and the tensions surrounding this issue by analyzing newspaper opinion letters, government and research center reports, and interviews with relevant stakeholders. In doing so, it seeks to analyze how different perspectives reflect underlying contrasting ideas about educational equity, teacher quality, and the professionalization of teaching in Chile.

Author

• Nina Yacher, Teachers College, Columbia U