Cristian Cabalin

Neoliberal Education and Student Movements in Chile: Inequalities and Malaise

This article examines the major consequences of the neoliberal education system implemented in Chile during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet and how two important student movements contested this structure. In 2006 and 2011, thousands of students filled the streets to demand better public education, more social justice and equal opportunities. They rejected the free-market fundamentalism in education that has generated segregation, stratification and inequalities. Students have become important political actors who re-evaluated the discussion on education in Chile. By doing so, they are rejecting the competitive and privatized nature of the current system, which is lacking in quality and equity, and they are demonstrating that new ‘social imaginary’ in Chilean education is possible.

The conservative response to the 2011 Chilean student movement: neoliberal education and media

This paper focuses on the relationship between the media and educational policies in the context of the ‘neoliberal newspeak’, which has characterized the current circulation of ideas in cultural production. Using framing theory, this article presents a critical discourse analysis on the editorials published about the 2011 student movement by El Mercurio, the most influential newspaper in Chile. El Mercurio is more than a newspaper. It is an institution; an institution that supports conservative ideas. El Mercurio framed the public discussion about educational policies and defended neoliberal education based on three discourses: the neoliberal system is absolute, public education is valued less than private and education is a technical issue, not political. By invoking this rhetoric strategy, these discourses attempted to maintain the neoliberal education system in Chile, which in turn rejected the social struggles of the student movement.

Mediatizing higher education policies: discourses about quality education in the media

This article presents a critical–political discourse analysis of the media debate over quality assurance in higher education, which occurred in Chile after the 2011 student movement. Students criticized the privatization of higher education and the multiple flaws of this sector, which included corruption scandals during the process of quality assurance certification. After the end of the movement, the government announced a new quality assurance system, triggering public discussion over this issue in the media. The most influential newspapers and educational authorities participated actively in this debate. Through editorials and columns, these education agents constructed quality assurance discursively as a domain for experts, who have to design and administer quality standards for all educational institutions and actions. These procedures regulate and discipline educational practices, but professors and students are excluded from this debate. Thus, this quality assurance discussion reproduces the traditional neoliberal power relations in education and does not problematize the role of education in society.

La opacidad de la política en la prensa chilena: un análisis de suplementos semanales

En este articulo, se presentan los principales resultados de un estudio cualitativo de reportajes y entrevistas para comprender las caracteristicas de la cobertura periodistica del campo politico de diarios nacionales y regionales chilenos. Considerando el proceso de mediatizacion de la politica, se concluye que estas piezas periodisticas estan dirigidas a personas que ya forman parte del mundo politico, asi se perfila una especie de “manual del politico” que ensena, advierte y forma a los mismos. Ademas, las fotografias se constituyen en las anclas configuradoras del sentido al proporcionar informacion complementaria, pero tambien en clave de lectura, enfatizando el foco de la nota al simplificarla a nivel metaforico o metonimico. En definitiva, la politica es tratada en la prensa chilena como un asunto de especialistas y tiene un caracter excluyente