This thesis will address the impacts of Chilean neoliberal education reforms on students access to primary and secondary education. Across three body chapters, I will conduct a historical, policy, and comparative analysis, as well as case study on the Mapuche population within Chile, to exemplify neoliberal reforms' impact on students across differing socioeconomic statuses. Ranging from the 18th century to 2017, this thesis will provide a comprehensive image of how Chile's national education system has transformed from Catholic, missionary schools with majority state influence during heightened colonial practices to increasingly decentralized and marketized institutions during the 1980s. Through a series of analyses, I hypothesize neoliberal education reform has negatively impacted vulnerable students' access to education through exacerbating discriminatory, financial elements at the hands of the rise of privatized education. To support this, I will initially analyze neoliberal dictator Augusto Pinochet's education policies and reforms starting in 1980. To fully understand these lingering impacts, I also analyze 2005 socialist president Michelle Bachelet's education reforms as a method to further understand which 1980 neoliberal education policies were preserved during the restoration of democracy in Chile during the 1990s and early 2000s. The thesis closes with a final case study of the Mapuche population, the largest indigenous population in Chile. With the use of the methodological frameworks deployed in chapter two and chapter three, I attempt to expose the disproportionate impacts of neoliberal education policies on the Mapuche even as modern education and government administrations attempt to transform the education system away from oppressive and discriminatory policies implemented during the 1980s. Riddled throughout the entire thesis are discussions of social movements advocating for greater education equity, amplifying the call for increased attention on justice for students, teachers, and families. / Master of Arts / This thesis will address the impacts of Chilean neoliberal education reforms on students' access to primary and secondary education. Chile is widely known as the "neoliberal experiment" state, making it a prime region to study how neoliberal reforms have impacted the development of the country. I will argue the creation and maintenance of neoliberal education policies have negatively impacted students' access to education, especially focusing on disproportion impacts on students of differing socioeconomic statuses and demographics. The thesis is split into three main chapters, which cover from the 18th century to around 2017. Across these chapters, I will analyze the beginnings of the education system in Chile, studying the main factors that ultimately shaped it into its current system. The second chapter will take on a narrower focus and will examine the main similarities and differences between Augusto Pinochet's 1980s neoliberal dictatorship and early 2000s socialist president Michelle Bachelet's education policies and restructurings. To demonstrate how impactful neoliberal education reforms, the thesis will close with a case study of the Mapuche in Chile. The Mapuche are the largest indigenous population in Chile, and the case study of them aims to show the uneven effects of neoliberal policy creation and preservation within Mapuche education structures. Overall, I work to shed light on the negative elements in education and academic environments, which are drawn out or amplified through neoliberal restructurings.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/118945 |
| Date | 09 May 2024 |
| Creators | Devault, Marya Katherynn |
| Contributors | Political Science, Kitchens, Karin E., Poets, Desiree, Binev, Binio S. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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