Who, how and what is investigated in a commercialized educational system? A meta-analysis of research on educational policy in post-dictatorship Chile (1990-2019)

Abstract

Starting from the idea that research and who carry it out affect the construction of the educational system, this article seeks to describe and understand what the main patterns of academic publication on educational policy in post-dictatorship Chile (1990–2019) are. Through a systematic review of more than 300 articles about educational policy, the paper analyzes who publish, the methods used and what has been investigated during the last three decades. The results show that research on educational policy is characterized by being a masculinized and individualized space, dominated by elite universities and characterized for a disciplinary autonomy. In addition, research in educational policy is highly descriptive and tends to use a qualitative approach as a way of approaching the phenomena it studies. Finally, it is observed that, even though most of the studies have a critical stance towards the market, in general they seek to correct it rather than remove it. This exercise allows deepening the reflection on the reconfiguration of the relationship between research and educational policy, as well as the mechanisms of influence that educational researchers develop on educational policy.