1st Edition
Examining Educational Policy in Latin America Comprehensive Insights into Contemporary Reform
This book synthesizes and analyzes the complex map of educational reforms in Latin America in the first two decades of the 21st century. The book offers insights into the agendas, processes and political economy of educational reforms in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.
Written by renowned contributors from each country, chapters present systematic, critical and reflective accounts of an intense period of education reforms. The book fills a gap in educational research and provides a systematic study that compares the cases analyzed. The first broad, comparative collection of its kind, the book is well-suited to courses in international and comparative education policy.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
List of Contributors
Chapter 1
Introductory Study: A Comparative Analysis of Educational Reforms in Latin America
Axel Rivas
Chapter 2
From "Spray and Pray" to "Reform without Spray": The Two Stages of Education Policy in Argentina
Belén Sánchez and Axel Rivas
Chapter 3
From Structural Reforms to Controversial Changes: The Education Policy Landscape in Brazil
Filipe Recch, Vinícius Baptista Soares Lopes and Lucas Hoogerbrugge
Chapter 4
Educational Policies in Chile: Between the State, the Market and Accountability based on Academic Achievement Tests
Cristian Bellei and Gonzalo Muñoz
Chapter 5
From Political Intentions to Structural Interventions: A Review of Two Decades of Education Policy Reforms in Colombia
Jorge Grant Baxter and Mónica Cristina León Cadavid
Chapter 6
The Educational Policy Agenda in Mexico (2000-2020): A time of Continuities and Political Shocks
Juan C. Olmeda and Valentina Sifuentes
Chapter 7
The Slow Development Process of Educational Policies in Peru
María Balarin*
*With the collaboration of Manuela de Szyszlo
Chapter 8
The Changing Spatial Dynamics of Education Policy in Latin America
Jason Beech
Biography
Axel Rivas is Professor, Researcher and Dean of the School of Education of the Universidad de San Andrés, Argentina, Academic Director of the Center for Applied Research in Education San Andrés (CIAESA), author of multiple articles and 14 books on comparative education and education policies, and Associate Editor of the Journal Education Policy Analysis Archives.
Think linearities: smooth transitions from dictatorship to democracy; the implications of economic globalisation for educational systems; the wise advice of international agencies about how to reform teacher education; the beneficial results of investing more money in the improvement of educational systems; the advantages of decentralisation. Now read this book about Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru and see how expected linearities become non-linear and solutions to problems become unpredictable. An excellent addition to the literature: a theory shock for practical people and a practical shock for theoreticians.
Robert Cowen, Emeritus Professor, University College London Institute of Education.
Latin America has been a laboratory of global education policy for decades. Nonetheless, joining the global policy conversation is not a synonym of meaningful and effective policy change, as this book brilliantly shows. In their chapters, the authors reflect on the main challenges of enacting policy instruments and sustaining policy change in different instances: from official discourses and public regulations to classroom practices. This ambitious and perfectly-executed joint research initiative covers a wide range of relevant policy trajectories in a carefully selected sample of countries from one of the most unequal and politically polarized world regions. Must-read for scholars, students, policy-makers and social activists trying to understand recent policy trends in Latin American education, but also how to advance equitable educational change in increasingly globalized policy spaces.
Antoni Verger, Professor, Department of Sociology, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona
There has been no comprehensive, up to date overview of educational change in Latin America – there is now. This book offers us a set of accessible, research informed insights into the complex, contradictory and controversial agendas of education reform in major Latin American countries. It explores, critically and reflexively, the tensions and struggles between neoliberalism and social justice that inform and incite the processes of reform. It examines the tensions and struggles between local initiatives and the global education reform movement. This will become the standard text to which researchers, students and policy analysts interested in Latin American turn.
Stephen J Ball, Emeritus Professor of Sociology of Education, University College London.
Axel Rivas and his colleagues offer us an outstanding volume of interdisciplinary research to understand and act on the long-standing --and seemingly increasing-- educational inequalities in Latin America. This is an exceptional book, bringing together 19 scholars from six Latin American countries, who creatively and rigorously avoided ineffective rigid ideological analysis, while considering local nuances and regional commonalities, to develop an original and comprehensive framing of educational policies in Latin America. A timely contribution, much needed to understand and transform some of the most unequal and unfair educational systems in the world.
Gustavo E. Fischman
Professor, Arizona State University | Mary Lou Fulton Teachers CollegeI warmly welcome the book edited by Axel Rivas, Examining Educational Policy in Latin America: Comprehensive Insights into Contemporary Reform. It is a collection of essays that add valuable insights to the study of educational reforms of this century in Latin America. With clear and concise prose, sound arguments, and a solid empirical base, the distinguished authors illustrate the complexities of educational policy in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. They pay attention to the global context and each country's political and economic vicissitudes. It is an outstanding book, a must-read for those interested in comparative and international education.
Carlos Ornelas, Professor of Education, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico City.
