CHILE Agencia de Calidad de la Educación División de Estudios Departamento de Estudios Internacionales Language and Literacy The main language in Chile is Spanish, and the Constitution does not recognize an official language. Almost the entire population of Chile speaks Spanish, and all national administrative documents are in Spanish. The predominant language of instruction in the national educational system from Grades 1 to 12 is Spanish. Because primary and secondary education in Chile are compulsory, the country has a high literacy rate (95.7 percent of the population over age 15 can read and write).1 According to the National Institute of Statistics, 4.6 percent of the population belongs to one of the eight official ethnic groups defined in Law No. 19.253: Aimara, Mapuche, Quechuas, Rapa Nui, Atacameños, Collas, Diaguita, Kawashkar, and Yagán. The first four groups have their own languages, which currently are used by them.2 Law No.19.253 stipulates that a system of intercultural bilingual education should be implemented in areas with a high Indigenous population, in order to prepare Indigenous learners to develop in an adequate way in their society of origin and in the global society.a,3 Consequently, the Ministry of Education implemented the Bilingual Intercultural Education Program, which stipulates the instruction of Indigenous languages in schools with a high level of Indigenous students. The teaching of Aimara, Mapudungun, Quechua, and Rapa Nui languages from Grades 1 to 7 is guided by a curriculum specially developed for this goal.4 Overview of the Education System The Chilean educational system is governed by the Quality Assurance System, which has the mandate of guaranteeing good quality education for all students. To achieve this, the system uses evaluation, inspection, and supervision, and the provision of guidance and constant support to every school. The system comprises the Ministry of Education, the Superintendence of Education, the National Council of Education, and the Educational Quality Agency.b,5 The Ministry of Education is the central institution of the system. Its purpose is to implement educational policy through the granting of official recognition to schools, defining regulations, providing funding, and creating and supporting educational resources, standards of learning, and pedagogical technical advice. The Superintendence of Education monitors the accomplishment of a Law No. 20.253 established rules on the protection, promotion, and development of the Indigenous peoples and created the Indigenous national development corporation . b Law No. 20.529 created El Sistema Nacional de Aseguramiento de la Calidad de la Educación Parvularia, Básica y Media y su fiscalización (The National System of Quality Assurance of Early Childhood, Primary, and Secondary Education and its control). PIRLS 2016 ENCYCLOPEDIA CHILE 1 educational regulations and imposes sanctions. The National Council of Education approves and informs the national curriculum, standards of learning, and national and international assessment plans. Finally, the Education Quality Agency evaluates and monitors learning achievements and the indicators of personal and social development. It also provides guidance to the schools to foster quality education for all, reduce learning gaps, and attain more inclusive education.6 As of 2015, 11,931 schools were serving 3.5 million students in Chile. These schools are divided into groups depending on their administrative status: public schools (which account for 44.2 percent of all schools and enroll 36.9 percent of all students), private subsidized schools (50.8 percent of schools, enrolling 55.3 percent of students), and paid private schools (5 percent of schools, enrolling 7.8 percent of students). Public schools are managed by local governments (municipalities) and are funded by the state. Private subsidized schools are managed by private entities and are funded by the state; these schools can be free of charge or have a shared structure of funding in which families and the state provide funds.c Paid private schools are managed by private entities and funded exclusively by families. The Ministry of Education officially recognizes all of these educational institutions as long as they accomplish the Ministry’s requirements, and parents can choose among them for their children’s education.d,7 Chile’s current school system consists of eight years of basic education (educación básica), which combines primary and lower secondary education (Grades 1 to 8), and four years of high school (educación media), which corresponds to upper secondary education (Grades 9 to 12). Basic education starts when students are 6 years old.8 Since 2015, kindergarten has become compulsory, making a total of 13 years of compulsory education. Schools offer primary and lower secondary education (basic education), upper secondary education (high school), or both (complete schooling). Some schools offer only Grades 7 to 12, and others, mainly small rural schools, offer only Grades 1 to 4 or Grades 1 to 6. Schools with upper secondary education offer humanistic-scientific education, technical professional education (vocational), or both (polyvalent). These tracks start at Grade 11, when curricula differentiate. Some schools offer specific artistic education. Schools that teach students with special needs are provided with extra human and technical resources in addition to specific knowledge and assistance.9 The Ministry of Education is responsible for developing the national curriculum, which determines the mandatory fundamental objectives and the minimum content to be taught in each grade and subject in all schools. It also develops the study plans and guides teaching. The national curriculum must be approved by the National Council of Education, which is independent from the Ministry. However, schools are free to decide how to implement the curriculum and may include additional educational objectives, content, and programs with prior approval of the Ministry of Education. In basic education (primary and lower secondary), there is one common curriculum for mathematics and c A recently passed law is intended to eliminate the payment from families in private subsidized schools. These schools will receive more public funding that must be reinvested into schools. Law No. 20.845 was implemented in 2016 and will increasingly be applied in all private subsidized schools. d Fewer public establishments (about 70) are managed under the Executive Management System (Sistema de Administración Delegada), which is administered by several corporations and nonprofit foundations. PIRLS 2016 ENCYCLOPEDIA CHILE 2 science because all students at this level follow the same track. In upper secondary education, there is one common curriculum for Grades 9 and 10 but different curricula for Grades 11 and 12, depending on whether students follow the humanistic-scientific or technical professional track.10 Language/Reading Curriculum in the Fourth Grade Reading Policy In Chile, schools are mandated to develop reading skills and a positive attitude toward reading through guided reading in class and home reading. In fact, reading is a strand of the national curriculum of the subject language and communication, which is taught from Grades 1 to 6. The curriculum prescribes curricular bases and includes goals and objectives for the development of skills at each grade. It also includes study programs suggested by the Ministry of Education that deliver activities and evaluation indexes; these guide schools in the development of the objectives and goals that students are expected to achieve. Public and private schools that do not follow the study programs may develop their own, but it is mandatory that they are based on the national curriculum. The national curriculum states that reading skills and dialogue using writing and oral skills are fundamental. Although the curriculum does not indicate a percentage or amount of total instructional time to be devoted to reading, the goals and objectives related to reading have predominance over writing and oral skills. Summary of National Curriculum The national curriculum establishes three axes for the subject of language and communication: Reading, Writing, and Oral Skills. In a general view, at the end of Grade 4 students should have achieved the following goals and objectives in Reading:11 • Fluently read aloud a variety of age appropriate texts: o Pronounce the words with precision o Respect the punctuation marks o Read with adequate intonation o Read with appropriate speed for level • Understand texts applying reading comprehension strategies; for example: o Relate the information in the text to personal experiences and knowledge o Reread what was not understood o Visualize what the text describes o Ask questions about what has been read and answer them o Underline relevant information in a text • Read and become familiar with a wide range of literature to increase knowledge of the world and develop their imagination; for example: PIRLS 2016 ENCYCLOPEDIA CHILE 3 Poems o o Stories o Myths o Novels o Comic books • Deepen their understanding of a narrative text: o Extract explicit and implicit information o Determine the consequences of events or actions o Describe and compare the characters o Describe the different environments that appear in a text o Recognize the problem and the solution in a narrative o Express informed opinions on the attitudes and actions of characters o Compare different texts written by