Equity & Quality in Chilean Education: Pending Debt with

Under Priviliged. Some Contributions & Experiences

with Finnish Students

Lillian González, lilliang@ufro.cl, University of La Frontera, Chile

Brief History of Education in Chile

• Between 1500s & 1800s, education responsibility of Catholic institutions

• Better educational opportunities scarce, highly stratified, aimed at male members of aristocratic elite

• Become national political leaders

Early 20th Century

• An educational reform solidifies public education

• Ministry of Education born

• Centralized educational policies applied

• Free text books, basic school supplies support elementary education

• Promising educational development ends

• Effects of world financial crack destabilizes Chile’s income

• Emergence of ideological movements in Universities and schools of education

• Teachers declared revolutionaries

• Social and geographical inequalities

• Illiteracy a major problem

• Drop outs: disadvantaged children, from rural origin, poor ones

1950s, Motivation to remain in school

• Social strategies implemented

• Illiteracy attacked

• Free meals offered at school

• Access to health and dental care treatments

1960s, Economical Stability

• Expanssion of education

• New facilities built

• Funds allocated for the economically disadvantaged, agrarian workers and rural students

1965 /1973

• Contemporary methodologies used

• More equity and quality in education

• Some scholarships for low income students to enhance high school and University education

1975 /1990

• Chile’s education suffers abrupt changes

• Educational budget reduced• New conception of schooling • Education managed by local

governements • Teacher salaries reduced• Several teacher training institutions

closed

• Equity and quality far from hope of the average citizen

• Good education is private and expensive

1990

• Chile recovers its democracy

• Many nations of the world willing to support it

• Finland among supporting countries

• Chile is a destination for Finnish University graduates

• Scholarships

• Work for the enhancement of education initially

• Finland, multilingual country

• World’s best educational system

• Globally aware population

• Sends CIMO scholars to Chile

• Chile, monolingual country

• Consumed education

• 500 years isolation• Struggles for its

democracy & development

• Receives Finnish cooperants

Cooperation Starts

• Seminar in Santiago 10 years ago

• Chilean educational institutions invited

• Finnish institutions look for contacts to cooperate

• Faculty and Rectors present Finnish Universities

• Finnish culture shown

• Tango Festival

First CIMO Scholars

• Surprise Chilean employers positively

• Professional quality

• Independence

• Multilingual language skills

• Spanish with almost no accent

• Impeccable professional performance

Student Challenges

• Life at work not easy

• Work in deprived environments

• Work culture difficult to understand

• Jobs often characterized by underdevelopment, necessity and need

Student Challenges

• Students work to contribute to the overcoming of poverty

• Contribute to the raising educational standards

• Often in rural environments, where life, climate and work may be hard

• Have been critical

• Have asked intelligent questions

• Have helped Chilean peers to re evaluate jobs with their external vision

• Have become ambassadors to Finland

Learning Opportunities

• Learned about Chilean culture

• Learned to addapt to new situations

• Learned to make do with what they have

• Learned to overcome difficulties

• Learned to develop strategies many times alone to succeed

Young Ambassadors

• Memories and Friends

• Important professional contributions for the community

• Open doors for more Finnish students to come

CIMO: Cooperation with Chile

• Chile, stable democracy

• Globalized economy

• Continues upgrading education

• Equal opportunities for everybody

• Something experienced at home and shared with us by Finnish students worked in Chile

Experience Benefits

• Flexibility, generosity, understanding

• Number of Finnish students increased

• Work areas diversified

Experience Benefits

• Finnish students will continue to brig youth, professional profficiency, their culture and a way of doing things, that

will keep on benefitting those still in need.

Thank you Students, Thank you CIMO

Thank you Finland