Die Bildungspolitik in Chile im Kontext der OECD-Mitgliedschaft

Abstract

In May 2010, Chile’s membership to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) was approved. It prides itself as the first South American member and for good reason. Conditions were ripe. After the military dictatorship ended, Chile enjoyed political and economic stability with consistent 5% growth over the past 20 years. But despite the great economic success in the country, there are still extensive social im-mobility and economic inequality due to the neo-liberal transformation of the economic and the social system during the military dictatorship under Pinochet (1973-1990). Its application was mainly a political decision of the government. Education was not as-sessed at the time of accession to OECD but Chile identified education as an important issue for further improving the socio-economic conditions of the country and economic development. OECD noted that access to good education in Chile is limited to the wealthy elite because it is expensive and largely privatized. According to the OECD, no country education is as expensive as in Chile. In addition to South Korea, the Chilean school and university sys¬tem has one of the highest private holdings in university and study funding. Only a few scholarships are offered. The study credit system which is privately organized is likewise unaffordable to the masses. On its way to OECD membership, Chile declared to adapt the evaluation data in its edu-cation system to the values of the established OECD member countries. In this way, Chile could compare its education data with the developed countries not only on a regional scale as in the past but worldwide. Innovation and equality of opportunity became the top of the agenda to further drive economic growth, strengthen competitiveness and result in elaboration of solutions for social problems. OECD presented a catalog of recommendations that Chile has tried to implement very actively but not without challenges. The issue at hand is about the extent of the influence of the OECD membership on the educational discourse and the impact on the education system in Chile. Undoubtedly, OECD provides a big influence as a reference point in state politics discus-sions. Even as the OECD cannot directly impose on the sovereignty of an independent country such as Chile, it is undeniably making an effective impact in other ways by virtue of its status as an internationally recognized institution. A large amount of public pressure is exerted on member states to oblige with the OECD recommendations. Comparison with member states, based on studies and reviews ad-ministered and published by OECD and also studies of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which lay down the benchmarks, provide for a moral obliga-tion to comply. To aid in the discussion of the issue at hand, a qualitative study with 29 education experts that analyzed the influence of OECD on educational policy reforms from the perspective of different group of actors was carried out. Studies on Chile and policy recommendations of OECD were very useful. They not only provided information on learning outcomes in the field of education but also knowledge of the best practices of other countries in the area of quality standards, teacher training and other topics. These instruments provide concrete and specific data that help to guide evidence-based dialogues to stimulate the much needed changes and support for necessary measures. The historical change of education policy towards the OECD has finally come in the second government of President Michelle Bachelet from the year 2014.