ABSTRACT
The current trend toward democratic styles of government in Latin America, accompanied by a thrust towards market-oriented economies, has brought about a widespread and overt demand for 'educational transformation'. An interesting example is the case of Chile, where President Aylwin, in 1992 shortly after his election, recognized that to sustain the country's growth would require a massive effort to modernize education nation-wide, particularly in the public sector which had suffered a marked decline in quality in the previous two decades. Accordingly the Chilean government established and institutionalized a national project: Mejoramiento de Equidad y Calidad de fa Educaci6n MECE (improvement of equality and quality in education) under the authority of the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC), with substantial initial assistance from the World Bank. The preliminary needs analysis conducted by the MECE leaders was confirmed in 1995 by a national survey that demonstrated the interest of the government in encouraging maximum participation at all levels in the purposes and design of educational reform. In 1996 President Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle reaffirmed the key importance of education as first priority on the occasion of the official opening of the National Congress (Frei, 1996):
There exists a consensus with respect to the central role that education plays in sustainable development and the political will to recognise it as a national priority, and thus to generate conditions for its effective modernisation ... the nation has expressed, in many different ways and circumstances, the conviction that the maintenance of our economic growth, the overcoming of poverty, the amplification and consolidation of our democratic livelihood and the improvement of our quality of life, depend fundamentally on the capabilities of our people. It is therefore incumbent upon the educational system to procure an education of quality for all.
