Critical Analysis of the Pressures for Improving Initial Teacher Education Proposed by the Panel of Experts for a Quality Education in Chile

Abstract

The July 9th, 2010 report from the Panel of Experts for Quality Education offers nine recommendations to strengthen initial teacher education (ITE) in Chile. Six of them promote the use of tests at admissions and at graduation from a teacher education program (pressure) and the other three propose resources to improve the conditions for ITE (support). This article discusses how pressure measures extend devices already in use in the school system: standardization, evaluation, competition, and accountability. Acknowledging the limits of such pressure measures and their ideological underpinning, it is argued that the exams proposed (PSU and INICIA) must comply with evaluation standards and accountability. With respect to the recommendation regarding the development of a network of clinical schools, the evidence suggests the need of advanced policies that afford sustainability to partnerships between institutions of higher education and the school system.