Abstract
This paper reports on a qualitative evaluation of the conceptual coherence of current programs of teacher training in three Chilean universities. Influenced by the Bologna Accord’s emphasis on development of competencies, the national government recently called for a shift from teaching as transmission of disciplinary-based cognitive knowledge to a transdisciplinary development of cognitive and non-cognitive skills in knowledge production. The paper, based on narrative analysis, is the first assessment of how three universities have responded to the new approach. Intensive interviews with teacher training program directors asked about goals, decision criteria, and methods of assessing impact on teacher trainees. The most selective university is using formal mechanisms to validate trainees’ attainment of specified competencies. In the middle and less selective universities less attention is paid to internal validation and programs rely on informal assessment mechanisms not always consistent with quality assurance requirements. The paper concludes that all three universities are guided more by labor market demands and employability of their graduates than by educational theory or research on teaching practices.
Highlights
During the last 30 years a variety of educational reforms have been attempted in Chile
This morphed into a discussion of the competencies featured
The interviewers asked about the procedures used to verify the acquisition of these competencies
Summary
During the last 30 years a variety of educational reforms have been attempted in Chile. These have included radical changes in the conception of the role of teachers and in the programs that provide their training. Prior to 1990, most teachers in Chile were trained in post-secondary institutions called higher normal schools. Most of their professors were experienced teachers trained in those institutions. Shaken by low results on international tests (TIMMS, PISA, PIRLS) (Wales et al, 2014), Chile in 1974 passed a law that closed all higher normal schools and assigned the preparation of teachers to universities with faculties of education (Ministerio de Educación, 1974)
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