Initial teachers' education in Chile: tensions between policies of support and control

Abstract

The article examines Chilean national policies affecting teacher education and its effectiveness over the past fifteen year. The article uses as analytical categories those formulated by OECD (2004) and other international reports such as McKinsey (Barber & Mourshed, 2008) centred on "Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers. The policies are considered in the light of their main emphases directed to support, regulate, and provide incentives and control, and their framing within the broad purposes of quality assurance and accountability. The article notes that the policy frames studied make sense within the context of globalization and internationalization of policies, as well within the neo-liberal ideology and market concepts which have been present in Chilean policies and educational institutions in Chile since the 1980s.