Organizational Gaps and Challenges in the Early Implementation of Chile’s New Public Education

Abstract

The New Public Education Law (NEP) has determined a structural reform of the public school system in Chile, transferring municipally-run schools to State services under the authority of the Ministry of Education. This implies an unprecedented process of recentralization and increase in administrative scale. In this article, we analyze the implementation of a Local Public Education Service, which integrates three municipalities of Greater Santiago. We identified severe flaws in institutional design that generate labor suffering, overcomed by a heroic sense with which officials aspire to improve the future of children and public education. This situation is not sustainable over time and it is necessary to improve working conditions to guarantee the quality of education in this service. With this purpose, we highlight the necessity of urgent improvements in administrative functions of the NEP, in terms of financial management, human capacities and institutional learning.