Initial Teacher Training, Curriculum and School System: What is the Place of Non-Spanish-Speaking Immigrant Children and Adolescents in the Chilean Education System?

Abstract

This piece discusses the school situation of non-Spanish-speaking Haitian immigrants in the Chilean education system. Four dimensions associated with the school trajectories of Haitian immigrants in Chilean schools are explored: (a) the general situation of the Haitian community in Chile; (b) the primary and secondary school Spanish Language and Literature curriculum and the teaching of Spanish as an additional language; (c) Initial Teacher Training (FID) and the inclusion of Spanish as a foreign language in curricular matrixes; (d) the systems of evaluation of the performance and organization of schools and their considerations with respect to non-Spanish-speaking immigrant students. We conclude with the need to develop and implement policies for the inclusion of Haitian immigrants that consider the school curriculum, initial teacher training, and quality evaluation systems of the Chilean school system, in order to make Chilean schools spaces of support and inclusion for all the inhabitants of Chile.