The objective of this exploratory study is to determine whether teachers in the national system of Second Opportunity Centers of Chile have characteristics similar to those of effective teachers in similar schools in other countries. A nationally representative sample of teachers in 40 centers completed a self-administered questionnaire describing…

The objective of this study was to identify those activities that re-engage out-of-school youth who enrol in the so-called 'recovery' schools now operating in Chile. Recovery schools can offer different kinds of activities in order to engage their students; are some activities more effective than others? Is their effect moderated by the type of…

Chile offers high school dropouts a chance to graduate through enrollment in Second Opportunity Centers, located in cities ranging in population from 5 million inhabitants to less than 100,000. Participants in 18 centers were classified into four distinct classes based on their family situation, handicaps, employment, experience with…

The objective of this study was to understand which factors contribute most to Psychology and Teaching graduates' satisfaction with their university professional formation. Two factors were assessed: the level of admissions selectivity by the university attended, and the salary received once employed. The participants graduated from three…

In 2016, Chile implemented a policy of free higher education (gratuity) for secondary school graduates from families in the lower income range. One of the stated objectives of the new policy was to increase the access of secondary school graduates from families with lower levels of education. To answer that concern, we analyzed administrative data…

Improvement in education has been one of the strategies of the government of Chile to reduce economic inequality. To that end, it recently established a system of Second Opportunity Centers that enroll out-of-school youth who have not completed high school. The system is modeled on so-called alternative schools operating in Europe and the United…

There is strong evidence that expansion of university enrolment contributes to economic growth. Less clear, however, is whether that expansion will reduce income inequality. Human capital theory argues that education provides graduates with the knowledge and skills to be more productive. As more students from disadvantaged families graduate from…

Over the last 30 years, Chile and Mexico have been implementing neoliberal policies to reform their higher education systems. This report compares the development and impact of those policies within three main areas in both countries, namely: (1) trends and characteristics of the growing private higher education sector, (2) commercialisation and…

This study analyzes how access to public and private institutions of higher education in Chile has changed as the post-secondary system has become increasingly privatized. It analyses access by young people to higher education from four perspectives: funding type (public/private), gender, family income level, and ethnicity. The study uses…