• Students with unemployed parents, students from low income households, single mothers or students who have to work to support their families: this is the situation of more than 2,300 youngsters who entered Universidad de Santiago this year, thanks to the tuition-free education program enacted by the Government. All of them have something in common: they had lost all hope of pursuing higher education.

This important benefit bridges gaps and opens new paths to inclusion and promotes equity and social mobility, confirming that education is a right and not a consumer good.

“As a mother, I thought I had to quit my future, because you cannot afford a degree when you are paid the minimum wage. My parents could not help me either. This is as a godsend, because the possibility of studying at no cost was just a beautiful aspiration,” Eillene Zúñiga, a student at the Computing and Informatics Engineering program, said.

“I come from another university and this is an incentive to complete my program. I am being provided with the tools I require to focus on studying,” Gustavo Hurtado, a student at the Informatics Civil Engineering program, said.

“It is important to us to have access to tuition-free education, without grants or complementary loans, because you start feeling that education- although the benefit is still  for some students- is for us, that it is not a business for which we have to pay millions,” Catalina Yáñez, another student at the Informatics Civil Engineering program, said.

For his part, Alejandro Marín says that his father is currently unemployed, so he could not think of any possibility of entering the university. “This will help me to focus on studying and my only goal will be to complete the Publicity program,” he said.

Finally, Alejandra Gallardo’s case is not different from the ones above. She is the first person of her family to enter higher education. “I am very happy. I have never thought of it, as my mother works at a fruit and vegetable market. She considers attending the Building Technology program a “big challenge”.

Thanks to the tuition-free education program enacted by the Government, they have now the possibility of pursuing higher education.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The Montevideo Group Association of Universities is meeting this week at the ECLAC’s office in Santiago. The activity gathers together representatives of more than 30 state universities of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. The program is focused on the analysis of “Reformas Universitarias y nuevos desafíos en la región”. According to Dr Juan Manuel Zolezzi, the Universidad de Santiago’s highest authority and head of the activity, having been chosen by the Association to host the Council of Presidents’ meeting, “means recognition of our experience.” 

The Montevideo Group Association of Universities (AUGM, in Spanish) has become one of the most significant groups in Latin America, as it gathers the most important state universities of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. This time, Universidad de Santiago is hosting the 67^th meeting of the Montevideo Group‘s Council of Presidents.

The activity is being held (April 27^th-28^th) at the Raúl Prebisch conference room of the ECLAC’s office in Chile.

On this occasion and in a context in which the Chilean Education Reform is a “must” topic at debate, Universidad de Santiago organized the forum “Reformas universitarias y nuevos desafíos en la región” (University reforms and new challenges in the region), where representatives of different Latin American public universities, as well as authorities and national and foreign experts, will discuss the processes and challenges the university reform involves.

President Juan Manuel Zolezzi

According to Dr Juan Manuel Zolezzi, the Universidad de Santiago’s highest authority and head of the activity, having been chosen by the Association to host the Council of Presidents’ meeting, “means recognition of our experience.” 

“We are part of almost all work committees of the Association and we head many of them, so this is in recognition of the work we have done,” President Zolezzi says, although he believes that the political and social context of our country adds “an attractive component”. 

Dr Zolezzi considers that Chile and its Education Reform made unanimous the decision of having the meeting here. The university presidents of Latin America “have great interest in being at a country where a large Higher Education Reform is being made.” 

“Every situation is unique and there are no recipes to implement a reform, but I think this debate will enlighten us,” Dr Zolezzi added.

International experience in state education

The Latin American meeting gathered university presidents with considerable experience and a very visible relation with their States. Dr Zolezzi says that “In most South American countries, free education is not part of the debate: it is a reality,” although he acknowledges that there are also experiences of private universities in different countries that are worth to know.

In President Zolezzi’s opinion, “Every situation is unique and there are no recipes to implement a reform, but I think this debate will enlighten us. We can agree with some of the systems that have been implemented but we can also disagree with others,” he says.

“The variety of approaches will be the most enriching thing of the activity. I think few people in this field in South America are not aware of what is happening in Chile, so I think this (meeting) will be a contribution to the development of our country.”

This forum precedes the Montevideo Group Council of Presidents meeting, in which a collaboration agreement between ECLAC and AUGM is expected to be signed.

Besides, the new president of this group will be elected, who will replace Dr Albor Cantard, President of Universidad Nacional del Litoral, in Argentina.

Finally, Universidad de Santiago de Chile will present the project “Biblioteca Latinoamericana de las Memorias” to the Council of Presidents.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Professor Saúl Contreras, academic at the Department of Education, is developing the Fondecyt Project “Early Teacher Training for Science Education” that seeks to analyze the academic performance of 1,200 Teaching Training Program students across the country to contribute with an explanatory model on how future teachers internalize and implement their curricular teaching knowledge.
• According to professor Contreras, this instrument will put a strain on the Inicia Test,” because the latter evaluates future teachers at the end of their training. “Our idea is to evaluate students during all their training process,” to obtain a comprehensive and timely knowledge about it.
• Professor Contreras presented the first results of this study at international conferences in Tarragona and Barcelona, Spain.

The quality of education is today a core topic in the public policies debate and it has become one of the key demands of different social sectors.

But this quality is affected by different variables, like the good or poor education received by those who will be responsible for teaching new generations, that is to say, Early Teaching Training, (FDI, in Spanish). This is why Dr. Saúl Contreras, PhD in Education of Universidad de Santiago de Chile is working on the project “Early Teaching Training for Science Education”, funded by Fondecyt, that seeks to create a model and an instrument to evaluate the training process of pre-service teachers. As a result, this would allow training institutions to review the decision making process regarding training matters.

The study considers a national sample of 1,200 trainee teachers in math and experimental science specializations. The research team led by Dr. Contreras will do the corresponding follow up for four years.

“We seek to create a model and an instrument to explain how students acquire teaching competences and skills. In the context of the study, we are going to provide important data to each participating institution,” Dr. Contreras says. He adds that this information will be very useful to correct the course of early teacher training.

“It will put a strain on the INICIA Test”

Professor Contreras claims that among the side effects of this study, “it will put a strain on the Inicia Test,” the voluntary test to evaluate graduate teachers in different contents. “It does not make any sense to expect a quality education by thinking that we can achieve it just through measuring instruments like Simce, PSU or the Inicia Test.”

Professor Contreras also stresses that the Inicia Test evaluates pre-service teachers at the end of their training programs. “We propose to have a systematic assessment instrument during the whole training process and not only at the end of it. Because we should ask ourselves if the results of the Inicia Test are not good and the students already graduated, what happen to them? Should we give them remedial courses? It is too late to do it”, he answers.

For all the above, the instrument studied by this researcher at Universidad de Santiago de Chile becomes essential, because, according to Professor Contreras, it is not about preparing students like pre-university schools do: it is “creating and applying an instrument to evaluate future teachers at certain time points during their training. And this is a decision of the institutions that internally choose to help their students.”

Regarding the assessment tests, Dr. Contreras says that he totally agrees with their application, “otherwise it would be impossible to know how we are doing,” but these instruments should be developed “together with the subjects and starting with them, because they also need to be relevant,” he explains.

Professor Contreras is so convinced of the effectiveness of his proposal that he does not doubt that, after applying the assessment instrument for four years, it may be applied at a national level, in the context of a public policy. He thinks that it “can also be implemented in the technical- professional formation.”

Although the first stage of collection of data was finished only a few weeks ago- with the collaboration of teacher training programs of universities from Arica to Punta Arenas- professor Contreras presented the first results of this project at the International Congress of University Teaching and Innovation (CIDIU, in Spanish), held at Tarragona, Spain and then, at the Edulearn VI International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, in Barcelona, Spain.

These first steps allow seeing significant changes in future teachers’ training that, in the end, will affect the quality of education.

 

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Professor Saúl Contreras, academic at the Department of Education, is developing the Fondecyt Project “Early Teacher Training for Science Education” that seeks to analyze the academic performance of 1,200 Teaching Training Program students across the country to contribute with an explanatory model on how future teachers internalize and implement their curricular teaching knowledge.
• According to professor Contreras, this instrument will put a strain on the Inicia Test,” because the latter evaluates future teachers at the end of their training. “Our idea is to evaluate students during all their training process,” to obtain a comprehensive and timely knowledge about it.
• Professor Contreras presented the first results of this study at international conferences in Tarragona and Barcelona, Spain.

The quality of education is today a core topic in the public policies debate and it has become one of the key demands of different social sectors.

But this quality is affected by different variables, like the good or poor education received by those who will be responsible for teaching new generations, that is to say, Early Teaching Training, (FDI, in Spanish). This is why Dr. Saúl Contreras, PhD in Education of Universidad de Santiago de Chile is working on the project “Early Teaching Training for Science Education”, funded by Fondecyt, that seeks to create a model and an instrument to evaluate the training process of pre-service teachers. As a result, this would allow training institutions to review the decision making process regarding training matters.

The study considers a national sample of 1,200 trainee teachers in math and experimental science specializations. The research team led by Dr. Contreras will do the corresponding follow up for four years.

“We seek to create a model and an instrument to explain how students acquire teaching competences and skills. In the context of the study, we are going to provide important data to each participating institution,” Dr. Contreras says. He adds that this information will be very useful to correct the course of early teacher training.

“It will put a strain on the INICIA Test”

Professor Contreras claims that among the side effects of this study, “it will put a strain on the Inicia Test,” the voluntary test to evaluate graduate teachers in different contents. “It does not make any sense to expect a quality education by thinking that we can achieve it just through measuring instruments like Simce, PSU or the Inicia Test.”

Professor Contreras also stresses that the Inicia Test evaluates pre-service teachers at the end of their training programs. “We propose to have a systematic assessment instrument during the whole training process and not only at the end of it. Because we should ask ourselves if the results of the Inicia Test are not good and the students already graduated, what happen to them? Should we give them remedial courses? It is too late to do it”, he answers.

For all the above, the instrument studied by this researcher at Universidad de Santiago de Chile becomes essential, because, according to Professor Contreras, it is not about preparing students like pre-university schools do: it is “creating and applying an instrument to evaluate future teachers at certain time points during their training. And this is a decision of the institutions that internally choose to help their students.”

Regarding the assessment tests, Dr. Contreras says that he totally agrees with their application, “otherwise it would be impossible to know how we are doing,” but these instruments should be developed “together with the subjects and starting with them, because they also need to be relevant,” he explains.

Professor Contreras is so convinced of the effectiveness of his proposal that he does not doubt that, after applying the assessment instrument for four years, it may be applied at a national level, in the context of a public policy. He thinks that it “can also be implemented in the technical- professional formation.”

Although the first stage of collection of data was finished only a few weeks ago- with the collaboration of teacher training programs of universities from Arica to Punta Arenas- professor Contreras presented the first results of this project at the International Congress of University Teaching and Innovation (CIDIU, in Spanish), held at Tarragona, Spain and then, at the Edulearn VI International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, in Barcelona, Spain.

These first steps allow seeing significant changes in future teachers’ training that, in the end, will affect the quality of education.

 

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Students with unemployed parents, students from low income households, single mothers or students who have to work to support their families: this is the situation of more than 2,300 youngsters who entered Universidad de Santiago this year, thanks to the tuition-free education program enacted by the Government. All of them have something in common: they had lost all hope of pursuing higher education.

This important benefit bridges gaps and opens new paths to inclusion and promotes equity and social mobility, confirming that education is a right and not a consumer good.

“As a mother, I thought I had to quit my future, because you cannot afford a degree when you are paid the minimum wage. My parents could not help me either. This is as a godsend, because the possibility of studying at no cost was just a beautiful aspiration,” Eillene Zúñiga, a student at the Computing and Informatics Engineering program, said.

“I come from another university and this is an incentive to complete my program. I am being provided with the tools I require to focus on studying,” Gustavo Hurtado, a student at the Informatics Civil Engineering program, said.

“It is important to us to have access to tuition-free education, without grants or complementary loans, because you start feeling that education- although the benefit is still  for some students- is for us, that it is not a business for which we have to pay millions,” Catalina Yáñez, another student at the Informatics Civil Engineering program, said.

For his part, Alejandro Marín says that his father is currently unemployed, so he could not think of any possibility of entering the university. “This will help me to focus on studying and my only goal will be to complete the Publicity program,” he said.

Finally, Alejandra Gallardo’s case is not different from the ones above. She is the first person of her family to enter higher education. “I am very happy. I have never thought of it, as my mother works at a fruit and vegetable market. She considers attending the Building Technology program a “big challenge”.

Thanks to the tuition-free education program enacted by the Government, they have now the possibility of pursuing higher education.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The Montevideo Group Association of Universities is meeting this week at the ECLAC’s office in Santiago. The activity gathers together representatives of more than 30 state universities of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. The program is focused on the analysis of “Reformas Universitarias y nuevos desafíos en la región”. According to Dr Juan Manuel Zolezzi, the Universidad de Santiago’s highest authority and head of the activity, having been chosen by the Association to host the Council of Presidents’ meeting, “means recognition of our experience.” 

The Montevideo Group Association of Universities (AUGM, in Spanish) has become one of the most significant groups in Latin America, as it gathers the most important state universities of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. This time, Universidad de Santiago is hosting the 67^th meeting of the Montevideo Group‘s Council of Presidents.

The activity is being held (April 27^th-28^th) at the Raúl Prebisch conference room of the ECLAC’s office in Chile.

On this occasion and in a context in which the Chilean Education Reform is a “must” topic at debate, Universidad de Santiago organized the forum “Reformas universitarias y nuevos desafíos en la región” (University reforms and new challenges in the region), where representatives of different Latin American public universities, as well as authorities and national and foreign experts, will discuss the processes and challenges the university reform involves.

President Juan Manuel Zolezzi

According to Dr Juan Manuel Zolezzi, the Universidad de Santiago’s highest authority and head of the activity, having been chosen by the Association to host the Council of Presidents’ meeting, “means recognition of our experience.” 

“We are part of almost all work committees of the Association and we head many of them, so this is in recognition of the work we have done,” President Zolezzi says, although he believes that the political and social context of our country adds “an attractive component”. 

Dr Zolezzi considers that Chile and its Education Reform made unanimous the decision of having the meeting here. The university presidents of Latin America “have great interest in being at a country where a large Higher Education Reform is being made.” 

“Every situation is unique and there are no recipes to implement a reform, but I think this debate will enlighten us,” Dr Zolezzi added.

International experience in state education

The Latin American meeting gathered university presidents with considerable experience and a very visible relation with their States. Dr Zolezzi says that “In most South American countries, free education is not part of the debate: it is a reality,” although he acknowledges that there are also experiences of private universities in different countries that are worth to know.

In President Zolezzi’s opinion, “Every situation is unique and there are no recipes to implement a reform, but I think this debate will enlighten us. We can agree with some of the systems that have been implemented but we can also disagree with others,” he says.

“The variety of approaches will be the most enriching thing of the activity. I think few people in this field in South America are not aware of what is happening in Chile, so I think this (meeting) will be a contribution to the development of our country.”

This forum precedes the Montevideo Group Council of Presidents meeting, in which a collaboration agreement between ECLAC and AUGM is expected to be signed.

Besides, the new president of this group will be elected, who will replace Dr Albor Cantard, President of Universidad Nacional del Litoral, in Argentina.

Finally, Universidad de Santiago de Chile will present the project “Biblioteca Latinoamericana de las Memorias” to the Council of Presidents.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Students with unemployed parents, students from low income households, single mothers or students who have to work to support their families: this is the situation of more than 2,300 youngsters who entered Universidad de Santiago this year, thanks to the tuition-free education program enacted by the Government. All of them have something in common: they had lost all hope of pursuing higher education.

This important benefit bridges gaps and opens new paths to inclusion and promotes equity and social mobility, confirming that education is a right and not a consumer good.

“As a mother, I thought I had to quit my future, because you cannot afford a degree when you are paid the minimum wage. My parents could not help me either. This is as a godsend, because the possibility of studying at no cost was just a beautiful aspiration,” Eillene Zúñiga, a student at the Computing and Informatics Engineering program, said.

“I come from another university and this is an incentive to complete my program. I am being provided with the tools I require to focus on studying,” Gustavo Hurtado, a student at the Informatics Civil Engineering program, said.

“It is important to us to have access to tuition-free education, without grants or complementary loans, because you start feeling that education- although the benefit is still  for some students- is for us, that it is not a business for which we have to pay millions,” Catalina Yáñez, another student at the Informatics Civil Engineering program, said.

For his part, Alejandro Marín says that his father is currently unemployed, so he could not think of any possibility of entering the university. “This will help me to focus on studying and my only goal will be to complete the Publicity program,” he said.

Finally, Alejandra Gallardo’s case is not different from the ones above. She is the first person of her family to enter higher education. “I am very happy. I have never thought of it, as my mother works at a fruit and vegetable market. She considers attending the Building Technology program a “big challenge”.

Thanks to the tuition-free education program enacted by the Government, they have now the possibility of pursuing higher education.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The Montevideo Group Association of Universities is meeting this week at the ECLAC’s office in Santiago. The activity gathers together representatives of more than 30 state universities of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. The program is focused on the analysis of “Reformas Universitarias y nuevos desafíos en la región”. According to Dr Juan Manuel Zolezzi, the Universidad de Santiago’s highest authority and head of the activity, having been chosen by the Association to host the Council of Presidents’ meeting, “means recognition of our experience.” 

The Montevideo Group Association of Universities (AUGM, in Spanish) has become one of the most significant groups in Latin America, as it gathers the most important state universities of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. This time, Universidad de Santiago is hosting the 67^th meeting of the Montevideo Group‘s Council of Presidents.

The activity is being held (April 27^th-28^th) at the Raúl Prebisch conference room of the ECLAC’s office in Chile.

On this occasion and in a context in which the Chilean Education Reform is a “must” topic at debate, Universidad de Santiago organized the forum “Reformas universitarias y nuevos desafíos en la región” (University reforms and new challenges in the region), where representatives of different Latin American public universities, as well as authorities and national and foreign experts, will discuss the processes and challenges the university reform involves.

President Juan Manuel Zolezzi

According to Dr Juan Manuel Zolezzi, the Universidad de Santiago’s highest authority and head of the activity, having been chosen by the Association to host the Council of Presidents’ meeting, “means recognition of our experience.” 

“We are part of almost all work committees of the Association and we head many of them, so this is in recognition of the work we have done,” President Zolezzi says, although he believes that the political and social context of our country adds “an attractive component”. 

Dr Zolezzi considers that Chile and its Education Reform made unanimous the decision of having the meeting here. The university presidents of Latin America “have great interest in being at a country where a large Higher Education Reform is being made.” 

“Every situation is unique and there are no recipes to implement a reform, but I think this debate will enlighten us,” Dr Zolezzi added.

International experience in state education

The Latin American meeting gathered university presidents with considerable experience and a very visible relation with their States. Dr Zolezzi says that “In most South American countries, free education is not part of the debate: it is a reality,” although he acknowledges that there are also experiences of private universities in different countries that are worth to know.

In President Zolezzi’s opinion, “Every situation is unique and there are no recipes to implement a reform, but I think this debate will enlighten us. We can agree with some of the systems that have been implemented but we can also disagree with others,” he says.

“The variety of approaches will be the most enriching thing of the activity. I think few people in this field in South America are not aware of what is happening in Chile, so I think this (meeting) will be a contribution to the development of our country.”

This forum precedes the Montevideo Group Council of Presidents meeting, in which a collaboration agreement between ECLAC and AUGM is expected to be signed.

Besides, the new president of this group will be elected, who will replace Dr Albor Cantard, President of Universidad Nacional del Litoral, in Argentina.

Finally, Universidad de Santiago de Chile will present the project “Biblioteca Latinoamericana de las Memorias” to the Council of Presidents.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Professor Saúl Contreras, academic at the Department of Education, is developing the Fondecyt Project “Early Teacher Training for Science Education” that seeks to analyze the academic performance of 1,200 Teaching Training Program students across the country to contribute with an explanatory model on how future teachers internalize and implement their curricular teaching knowledge.
• According to professor Contreras, this instrument will put a strain on the Inicia Test,” because the latter evaluates future teachers at the end of their training. “Our idea is to evaluate students during all their training process,” to obtain a comprehensive and timely knowledge about it.
• Professor Contreras presented the first results of this study at international conferences in Tarragona and Barcelona, Spain.

The quality of education is today a core topic in the public policies debate and it has become one of the key demands of different social sectors.

But this quality is affected by different variables, like the good or poor education received by those who will be responsible for teaching new generations, that is to say, Early Teaching Training, (FDI, in Spanish). This is why Dr. Saúl Contreras, PhD in Education of Universidad de Santiago de Chile is working on the project “Early Teaching Training for Science Education”, funded by Fondecyt, that seeks to create a model and an instrument to evaluate the training process of pre-service teachers. As a result, this would allow training institutions to review the decision making process regarding training matters.

The study considers a national sample of 1,200 trainee teachers in math and experimental science specializations. The research team led by Dr. Contreras will do the corresponding follow up for four years.

“We seek to create a model and an instrument to explain how students acquire teaching competences and skills. In the context of the study, we are going to provide important data to each participating institution,” Dr. Contreras says. He adds that this information will be very useful to correct the course of early teacher training.

“It will put a strain on the INICIA Test”

Professor Contreras claims that among the side effects of this study, “it will put a strain on the Inicia Test,” the voluntary test to evaluate graduate teachers in different contents. “It does not make any sense to expect a quality education by thinking that we can achieve it just through measuring instruments like Simce, PSU or the Inicia Test.”

Professor Contreras also stresses that the Inicia Test evaluates pre-service teachers at the end of their training programs. “We propose to have a systematic assessment instrument during the whole training process and not only at the end of it. Because we should ask ourselves if the results of the Inicia Test are not good and the students already graduated, what happen to them? Should we give them remedial courses? It is too late to do it”, he answers.

For all the above, the instrument studied by this researcher at Universidad de Santiago de Chile becomes essential, because, according to Professor Contreras, it is not about preparing students like pre-university schools do: it is “creating and applying an instrument to evaluate future teachers at certain time points during their training. And this is a decision of the institutions that internally choose to help their students.”

Regarding the assessment tests, Dr. Contreras says that he totally agrees with their application, “otherwise it would be impossible to know how we are doing,” but these instruments should be developed “together with the subjects and starting with them, because they also need to be relevant,” he explains.

Professor Contreras is so convinced of the effectiveness of his proposal that he does not doubt that, after applying the assessment instrument for four years, it may be applied at a national level, in the context of a public policy. He thinks that it “can also be implemented in the technical- professional formation.”

Although the first stage of collection of data was finished only a few weeks ago- with the collaboration of teacher training programs of universities from Arica to Punta Arenas- professor Contreras presented the first results of this project at the International Congress of University Teaching and Innovation (CIDIU, in Spanish), held at Tarragona, Spain and then, at the Edulearn VI International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, in Barcelona, Spain.

These first steps allow seeing significant changes in future teachers’ training that, in the end, will affect the quality of education.

 

Translated by Marcela Contreras