CRUCH Pedagogy Strengthening Commission shares its progress with MINEDUC working group

Invited by the Modernization Committee for Initial Teacher Training, led by the Undersecretary of Higher Education, Carmen Montencinos, executive secretary of the CRUCH Pedagogy Strengthening Commission, presented the five principles that have been defined as priorities.

Carmen Montecinos, executive secretary of the Commission for Strengthening Pedagogies of the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH), shared the progress of the work carried out by this body with the Modernization of Initial Teacher Training Committee led by the Undersecretariat of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education. 

Montecinos, who was invited to present on Friday, August 25, spoke positively about the meeting. From her perspective, “it is significant that there are different committees or working groups analyzing aspects of the initial and ongoing teacher training policy that require adjustments. These groups, which have brought together various stakeholders and have some differences in their purposes or focus, seem to be converging on critical issues that need to be resolved.”.  

“Presenting the preliminary progress of the CRUCH Pedagogy Strengthening Commission to this instance of the Ministry of Education and hearing about the work of that group was very enlightening regarding aspects that our commission has not yet addressed and others that we are addressing,” Montecinos stated.

The Modernization Committee for Initial Teacher Training of the Ministry of Education, which met for the first time on July 20, is made up of representatives from the Undersecretariat of Higher Education (Division of University Education, Division of Information and Access, and Cabinet); the Council of Deans of Faculties of Education (CONFAUCE); the Council of Deans of Private Universities; the Network of State Universities of Pedagogical Training; the Institute of Advanced Studies in Education of the University of Chile (CIAE); and Elige Educar of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. 

At this table, CRUCH is represented by the rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso (PUCV), Nelson Vásquez, and the rector of the Metropolitan University of Educational Sciences (UMCE), Elisa Araya. 

CRUCH Presentation

The presentation by academic Carmen Montecinos, who is also the Director of the Center for Educational Leaders at PUCV, focused on the five principles defined by the CRUCH Commission for Strengthening Pedagogies. These principles are being developed through the work of subcommittees, and their final version will be analyzed by the commission at the end of September. 

The first principle emphasizes that initial and ongoing teacher training is a task undertaken by higher education institutions, taking into account the diverse territorial and cultural contexts in which their educational projects are developed and implemented. This task responds to the regional and national demand for qualified teachers who can contribute to the quality and equity of the educational system.

The second principle proposes that Initial Teacher Training (ITT) should be understood as a creative space that generates and manages knowledge, mobilizing it towards obtaining adaptive expertise in future teachers and those who are in service.

A third principle relates to the fact that teacher training entities are linked to the school and preschool system and various organizations present in the environment and territory, with the purpose of improving the quality of the initial and continuous training process of teachers, as well as the educational system as a whole.

The fourth principle argues that teacher training in Chile should be a priority of public policy and higher education institutions.

Finally, the fifth principle addresses quality assurance in initial and ongoing teacher training, establishing that it is the responsibility and permanent priority of university communities within the national institutional framework of accreditation. In the context of territorial diversity, this assurance must safeguard quality throughout the entire training process.

Commission of Pedagogies

The Commission for Strengthening Pedagogies was created by decision of the CRUCH plenary in September 2022 and is headed by Rector Nelson Vásquez (PUCV) together with Rector Elisa Araya, and is made up of more than thirty experts from the 25 universities of the Council that teach pedagogy degrees. 

The commission was established in January 2023 and since then its work has been organized around four subcommittees: Initial Teacher Training: present and future challenges; Public Policies for Teacher Professional Development; Linkage with the Environment and Territory; and Regulatory Frameworks.

One of the main tasks of the commission is to prepare a document with public policy guidelines, in relation to issues concerning the attraction, training and retention of teachers.

This document will be shared with the plenary session of rectors of the CRUCH during the second half of this year.