Oscar Espinoza

Solving the Equity/Equality Conceptual Dilemma: A New-Goal Oriented Model to Approach Analyses Associated with Different Stages of the Educational Process

This study is grounded in the critical theory Paradigm, which focuses on issues of power, knowledge, conflicts over values, lack of resources, control, resistance, hegemony, and equity and how they manifest themselves in different situations (Apple, 1996; Carr and Kemmis, 1986; Giroux, 1983; Larkin and Staton, 2001; Paulston, 1977; Popkewitz and Brennan, 1997; Rezai-Rashti, 1995). From a critical theory perspective, it is assumed that social relations in education and other sectors are characterized by conflict and contradictions. Indeed, critical theory affirms that educational systems in capitalist societies are involved in the reproduction and change of class relationships and cannot be understood by simply “adding up” the effects of schooling on each individual to arrive at a sense of social impact (Bowles and Gintis, 1976). According to critical theory, in all the societies with a “free” market economy, the primary function of education is to reproduce the social relations of capitalist society. Since “equity” issues represent one of the pillars of critical theory’s concerns, this chapter focuses on it as well as on the concept of “equality” which has been used as a synonym of the concept “equity.”

Causes and Consequences of the Student Protests in Chile

The purpose of this chapter is to analyze the Chilean student movement (which took place between May and December in 2011), its demands, and the government’s answers during the conflict. The main issues of the protests will be identified along with their implications. The Chilean Higher Education System (CHES) includes 60 universities. Among them, 16 state-owned institutions and 9 private establishments created before 1980 belong to a group named the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH) and receive direct public support (AFD). In 1981 a newly enacted legislation allowed the creation of new institutions that don’t rely on state support. As a result, 35 universities, 43 professional institutes (IPS; similar to colleges) and 69 technical training centers (CFTS) emerged. Universities are nonprofit but the IPS and CFTS are not.

Paulo Freire’s ideas as an alternative to higher education neo-liberal reforms in Latin America

Abstract This article examines the principal arguments found in the work of Paulo Freire concerning policy and ethics in the field of higher education in Latin America. It critically analyzes the university reform in Latin America dominated by the thought and practice promoted by various international financial institutions (such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank [IDB]) beginning in the 1980s and then looks at the feasibility of an alternative Freirian view. The work of Paulo Freire celebrated the liberating role that public university education should play in the training of citizens and professionals, that is with a critical and ethical conscience, committed to the needs of the locality, region and the world. All this is in clear opposition to what has happened to Latin American universities, influenced by neo-liberal reforms over the last decades.

Trends in Latin American Higher Education Systems

This article explores and analyses the Latin American regional higher education systems, presenting and discussing evidences that Latin American higher education institutions (HEIs) share points in common regarding their strategic management systems. Different factors are identified and presented as relevant aspects that should be taken into consideration by representatives of HEIs in their future strategic decisions. The main issues discussed and put forward as key aspects within the institutional realm were associated with the increased enrolment and gross enrolment rate, the changing profile of faculty members, the privatisation and its scope, the inequities in access, persistence and employability and changes in the funding system and in the role of the State.