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By Bharti Sharma
The global debate on educational governance is a tug-of-war between centralized and decentralized systems. Centralization advocates emphasize uniformity, pointing to Japan and Singapore as examples where national standards ensure consistent education quality. Conversely, decentralization proponents highlight the innovation from local autonomy, as seen in Canada and Switzerland, where communities tailor education to their needs. However, there's no single "right" model. Each system has its advantages and challenges, meaning success in education governance requires understanding education as a complex ecosystem and tailoring approaches to fit specific contexts.
Enter systems thinking—a fresh perspective that views education as an interconnected web of learners, parents, teachers, government bodies, politicians, and communities. Each action triggers a reaction across this web, making it vital to consider (and measure outcomes for) every link and interaction. By applying systems thinking, we can identify these crucial connections and understand the ripple effects of our governance structures.
To grasp this concept more fully, let's look into the evolution of Chile's education system over the last four decades. Chile stands as a compelling example of why this approach is essential.
From Decentralization to Centralization: Chile's Educational Reform Journey
In the 1980s, Chile's education system underwent a transformative shift under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, moving towards decentralization by transferring control of public schools from the federal government to local municipalities led by Mayors. A key reform was the school voucher system, which redirected public funding to follow students, enabling parents to choose between public and private schools. With rising incomes, many families opted for low-budget private schools, introducing market competition to improve quality. To boost private sector growth, the government offered incentives like per-student funding, relaxed regulations, subsidies, tax benefits, and encouraged public-private partnerships.
In the aftermath of Chile's bold foray into decentralized education, unexpected challenges began to emerge. At first, the transfer of school governance to municipalities was seen as a step towards greater local empowerment. However, as time passed, widespread heterogeneity in educational outcomes became alarmingly evident. Some municipalities thrived, while others struggled to provide even the most basic educational resources, turning a child's education quality into a postcode lottery—an outcome far from the goals of equitable education.
The administrative demand placed on even the smallest counties forced each to create their own educational departments, leading to inefficiencies and siloed operations. With limited coordination and no shared vision, public education fell prey to political influences, resulting in a fragmented system lacking a unified commitment to the success of most vulnerable Chilean children.
The rising popularity of private-voucher schools in Chile, driven by their perceived higher quality, has significantly influenced the educational landscape. These institutions are often regarded as superior to public schools, despite mixed evidence supporting this belief . As parents of more economically stable families moved their children to these privately run, publicly funded schools, parents of poor families self-segregated into public schools to avoid potential discrimination and bullying, further entrenching these divisions. This trend is evident from data illustrating the significant decline in the share of students attending public schools since the 1990s (see Table 1). As more families chose private education, these schools began selecting high-achieving students through entrance exams and parent interviews, which acted as gatekeepers. Ultimately, it was a combination of the private school systems and parental choice that led to the stratification of children, raising important questions about equity and access in Chile’s education system.
In 2009, almost three decades after these reforms, Chile's educational performance was low compared to the OECD average. This highlighted significant challenges that Chile faced in elevating its global educational standards.
Since implementing Chile's municipal education model, various reforms have gradually shifted it from its original decentralized, market-driven nature to enhance equal access to education. Key reforms targeted leveling the playing field by introducing preferential subsidies for low-income students and implementing a centralized lottery system to eliminate school-side selection. In 2015, municipal schools were no longer allowed to charge voluntary fees, and profit-making in government-funded private schools was ended, as part of the School Inclusion Law. The lottery algorithm replaced student self-selection while considering parental preferences, thus reducing direct parental influence. Additionally, charter schools were transformed into non-profit private schools, reshaping Chile's educational landscape.
These adjustments reveal a significant lesson: educational reforms ripple through the system as each stakeholder's response—from the private school market to parental decision making—influences the outcome. By adopting a systems thinking approach, we can better anticipate these ripple effects, harnessing the interconnectedness of our educational ecosystems to craft reforms that are both equitable and effective.
Revamping Education: The Role of SLEP in Chile's Unified Vision
In 2017, seeking a balance between the extremes of centralized and decentralized educational governance, Chile introduced the Servicios Locales de Educación Pública (SLEP), or Local Public Education Services. This innovative approach aims to bridge existing gaps by blending the benefits of national oversight with the strengths of local autonomy. Through the organization of 70 SLEPs, resources from 345 municipalities are pooled into regional clusters, intending to reduce fragmentation while enhancing coherence in delivering education services. Central to this model are five departments: Finance, Pedagogical, Infrastructure, Human Resource, and Territorial Management. By integrating national guidance and regional autonomy, SLEPs address local needs through councils comprising parents and community members, maintaining accountability and community involvement. The directors, appointed based on expertise via a structured process, emphasize strategic oversight beyond direct Ministry of Education control, allowing SLEPs operational independence. This setup encourages interactive collaboration both within individual SLEPs and across the network, facilitating the sharing of best practices and resources. The design aims to ensure equitable education quality, foster teacher development, and
maintain local engagement, while effectively coordinating resource allocation and accountability standards. With 11 SLEPs already operational and full implementation expected by 2027, the initiative, despite facing some challenges and mixed public feedback, represents a middle ground in education governance. This provides an unprecedented opportunity to study the effects of such a hybrid model systematically.
CID faculty affiliate and co-chair of the Global Education and Research: Unleashing Potential (GEAR:UP) program Dr. Emiliana Vegas and her research team are exploring measuring the impact of SLEPs through a comprehensive mixed-method study, utilizing a difference-in-differences strategy, in part to assess the ongoing National Public Education Strategy (ENEP). The study will quantitatively examine key factors of SLEPs, including the centralized lottery-based admission system and outcomes related to equity, while a qualitative component explores how school practices have evolved under the SLEP model. The study will assess the interventions impact on various stakeholders—learners, teachers, parents, and schools—reflecting a systems thinking approach that considers how interconnected elements collectively shape educational equity. This multifaceted research promises significant insights into how this balanced governance structure can transform and improve the educational landscape across Chile.
Through this comprehensive approach, the research seeks to paint a clearer picture of SLEP's overall impact on education across the nation, offering valuable lessons for future policy and reform efforts.
Conclusion: Embracing Systems Thinking for Educational Reform
Having closely witnessed Chile's education reforms, Dr. Emiliana Vegas offers valuable insights from her firsthand experience, providing key lessons for policymakers and researchers around the globe. First, when funding follows the student, it's crucial to ensure that what we invest in truly impacts learning outcomes. Second, achieving adequate learning levels requires recognizing that the cost per child isn't uniform—different students need different resources to succeed. Third, accountability structures without adequate support fail to deliver high-quality education for everyone. This brings us to the fourth insight: institutions at all levels play a pivotal role. Without their active engagement and coordination, educational objectives stumble. Lastly, to elevate student learning, the system itself must learn and adapt continually.
These insights underscore the necessity of adopting a systems thinking approach. By viewing education reform as an interconnected network, where financial structures, accountability measures, and institutional roles dynamically interact, we gain a comprehensive understanding of how educational outcomes are shaped. Systems thinking enables us to craft reforms that are not only responsive to the unique complexities of each educational environment but also resilient to future challenges.
In the shifting educational landscape of Chile, SLEPs symbolize a new chapter, blending insights from past challenges with innovative strategies to build a cohesive, equitable education system. As Chile continues to navigate its own educational reforms, it stands as a valuable case study for understanding the systemic impact of such changes. Chile's use of vouchers can offer insights into how market-based approaches might influence access and quality in education. Additionally, understanding the prerequisites for successful decentralization can inform how countries structure local governance to support effective education delivery. These reflections offer actionable guidance for today's policymakers aiming to create adaptive and resilient educational frameworks. By embracing a holistic view, education stakeholders can pave the way for meaningful, sustainable progress, ensuring that every student has the opportunity to succeed.
Image Credits
Fernanda Reyes
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