Executive Vice President of CRUCH: “If we want to address the problem of teacher training correctly, all stakeholders must be involved.”

26/09/2024
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  • Executive Vice President of CRUCH: “If we want to address the problem of teacher training correctly, all stakeholders must be involved.”
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Rector Emilio Rodríguez stated that “it is necessary to delve deeper into three areas that we consider essential: access to teacher training programs, evaluation of teacher education, and accreditation of the quality of institutions.” The CRUCH will work with the Undersecretariat of Higher Education, headed by Rector Elisa Araya (UMCE), Rector Nelson Vásquez (PUCV), and Rector Carlos González (UPLA).

The Undersecretary of Higher Education, Víctor Orellana, praised this initiative and noted that "the work we do together will allow us to take steps forward in connecting higher education with the challenges and needs of the country.".

The concern of the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH) regarding the training of teachers, access to teaching degrees, and the shortage of teachers in the country's school system has set the agenda for this year.

To contribute to solutions, in March CRUCH delivered the report to the Ministry of Education. “Teaching Changes Lives”, where 24 critical issues were identified. To expedite the process, the plenary session of university presidents agreed this Thursday, September 26, to work together with the Undersecretariat of Higher Education to address some priority areas.

The executive vice president of CRUCH, Emilio Rodríguez, stated that “it is necessary to delve deeper into three areas that we consider essential: access to teacher training programs, evaluation of teacher education, and accreditation of the quality of institutions.” In this context, he argued that “if we want to address the problem of teacher education effectively, we need an integrated approach, and all stakeholders must be involved, including the CPEIP (Center for Professional Development, Experimentation, and Educational Research) and the CNA (National Accreditation Commission).”.

The Undersecretary of Higher Education, Víctor Orellana, praised this initiative and stated that “Chile cannot be left without teachers.” He added that this problem “cannot be solved with isolated measures, but rather with a systemic approach that integrates all stakeholders. Therefore, the role of the CRUCH universities in this process of strengthening initial teacher training will be key to articulating and supporting the public policies that we, as a government, are promoting, such as the National Teacher Plan presented by the Ministry of Education this year.” Finally, he affirmed that “the work we do together will allow us to move forward in connecting higher education with the challenges and needs of the country.”.

On behalf of CRUCH, the working group will be led by the rector of the Metropolitan University of Educational Sciences (UMCE), Elisa Araya; the rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso (PUCV), Nelson Vásquez; and the rector of the University of Playa Ancha (UPLA), Carlos González.

Three priority areas

From the perspective of CRUCH, one of the central points to analyze is the admission requirements for pedagogy programs, "especially because the shortage of teachers is well known and because there has not been anything like a greater attraction or incentive on the part of high school students to pursue a teaching career, and in that context, it is not expected that this shortage can be remedied in the medium term," explained the executive vice president of CRUCH and rector of the University of Tarapacá, Emilio Rodríguez.

The other point relates to reviewing the relevance and timeliness of evaluations during the teacher training process (for example, the National Diagnostic Evaluation, END), with the purpose of "providing feedback on improvement processes within the institution to contribute to excellence in training," Rector Rodríguez stated.

On the other hand, the END test has consequences for accreditation processes, which also need to be reviewed. “You can’t simply replicate or apply a correlation between the results of the national diagnostic assessment and the years of accreditation of the programs,” Rodríguez stated.

In short, it is necessary to rethink the criteria and mechanisms for measuring different elements of the training process, which will allow for pertinent and relevant information to support decision-making on the different aspects of a teacher development policy.

Text and photograph: CRUCH Communications