Primary Education Professors in Chile: A Comparison of Standard Guidelines for Education Graduates with Real-Life Teaching Practices

Abstract

In order to gauge the national teacher-training curriculum as required by Chile´s Education Quality Assurance Agency, this study compares the guiding standards established for primary school education graduates with the inhouse experience of actual elementary schools teachers. This article reflects on the need for enhanced efforts to make learning more multidisciplinary, contextualized and meaningful under the assumption that teachers with training in a specific subject area are hired for that corresponding job. This would serve as a good opportunity for universities to establish graduate or postgraduate degrees for primary school education teachers in areas where there are gaps. The study enrolled 50 teachers and 30 principals from subsidized schools. At the same time, teacher training programs at 28 Chilean universities were reviewed with an emphasis on primary school education. Based on the results, however, it is difficult to compare teacher practice and their professional training based on specific subject areas, since, they are required to be malleable and teach classes in disciplines such as Art, Music or Technology, while on the job, regardless of their prior preparation for those subjects. Furthermore, teacher mastery of these subjects cannot be ensured since teacher-training does not address these aspects. As a result, there is no way of verifying if students are receiving a quality education in these subject areas; yet, universities, could address this gap by emphasizing the need to address all compulsory subject areas in their teacher-training curriculum.