PREAL Blog

Jul 15

Education Reform in Chile: Challenges and Opportunities

By Federico Sucre

During my first week as a Program Assistant for Education at the Inter-American Dialogue, I had the privilege to help organize and attend an event about the recent education policy proposals in Chile. This is truly a hot topic at the moment. Since 2011 Chile has been rocked by powerful student protests that call for free higher education for all, an end to for-profit schools, and greater education quality and equity, among other requests. In response to the protests, President Michelle Bachelet submitted a proposal to Congress in May hailed as “Chile’s most significant education reform in 50 years.” Read more

Jul 8

our school / woodleywonderworks / CC BY 2.0

OECD Teacher Survey Results: Hints for Latin America

Lea en español

By Belén Cumsille R.*

On June 25^th, the OECD released results from the 2013 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), which collects information on secondary school teachers’ perceptions of the teaching profession and their work environment. The 2013 TALIS surveyed more than 100,000 teachers and principals in 34 countries across the globe, including three in Latin America: Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. The results highlight emerging trends and provide hints for future reforms. Read more

Jul 1

UN Members Flags / Aotearoa / CC BY-SA 3.0

1 Comment

A Critique of UNESCO’s Proposal on Education After 2015

Lea en Español

By Ariel Fiszbein and Eduardo Vélez Bustillo

Since the early sixties (at the conference of Addis Ababa), and with the best intentions, the international community has been setting goals to solve educational problems in developing countries. Unfortunately, and for various reasons, these have not been met. Even the most recently agreed targets in the Millennium Development Goals, which should be achieved next year, will not be met. In fact, 54 countries will not have achieved universal primary education by the end of 2015. Read more

Jun 24

Evaluarán las distintas estrategias para enseñar a leer en los establecimientos subvencionados chilenos / Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile /(CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Clues for Improving Education in Argentina

Lea en español

An Interview with Manuel Alejandro Alvarez Trongé and Alejandro J. Ganimian

To mark the publication of a report on the poor quality of education in Argentina, Ariel Fiszbein (Director of the Education Program at the Inter-American Dialogue) interviewed Manuel Alvarez Trongé (President of Proyecto Educar 2050) and Alejandro J. Ganimian (author of the report).

Jun 17

The New Education Plan in Brazil

Lea en español

At the end of May, after a nearly four-year process (the initial draft was submitted in December 2010), the Brazilian Congress passed a new National Education Plan, which is now awaiting the signature of the President. Read more

Jun 11

Michelle Rhee, DCPS Chancellor/ The National Academy of Sciences/ CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

PREAL Publications: Can Evaluating Teachers Improve Effectiveness?

Lea en español

By Tamara Ortega Goodspeed and T’Nia Crutchfield

We are pleased to share with you the most recent PREAL Policy Brief “Can Evaluating Teachers Improve Teacher Effectiveness? IMPACT Evaluations in Washington, DC.” PREAL Policy Briefs provide non-technical overviews of key education policy topics. Read more

Jun 3

PREAL Publications: Working Paper on Education Policy

Lea en español

We are pleased to share with you the most recent PREAL Working Paper “What Can Latin America Learn from Rigorous Impact Evaluations of Education Policies” by Richard J. Murnane and Alejandro J. Ganimian. The paper reviews the lessons from impact evaluations for education policy in Latin America. Read more

May 28

By Gobierno de Chile (Presidenta Bachelet decreta Estado de Excepción Constitucional de Catástrofe para Arica y Parinacota y Tarapacá) [CC BY 3.0 CL]

Storms ahead for the education sector in Latin America

Lea en español

In an article published by El País, Ariel Fiszbein argues that there are storms ahead for the education sector in Latin America.

May 22

By Miguel Olaya from Bogotá, Colombia (Casa de Nariño) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Presidential Candidates and Learning Goals: The Case of Colombia

Lea en español

By Ariel Fiszbein and Eduardo Velez Bustillo

We argued in a blog post last month that the discussion surrounding learning goals needs to be taken to the streets. We proposed asking Latin American presidential candidates what their expectations, hopes, and proposals are on this subject. In this post, we summarize the results of our first request for candidates’ positions on what indicators should be used to monitor progress in the education sector, especially in the context of the post-2015 Development Agenda. Read more

May 13

Photo Credit: “Kuva 4”/STT-lehtikuva/Finnish Prime Minister's Office

A Conversation with the Minister of Education of Finland

Lea en español

I recently had the privilege of commenting on a presentation at the World Bank by Finland’s minister of education, Krista Kiuru. For me, this was a dream come true. Finland’s much-praised success in providing high-quality education to all students, rich or poor, has prompted policy wonks all over Latin America (and the world) to ask how they did it. Everybody wants to be like Finland. Read more