Chile

Reading Instruction in the Primary Grades

Instructional Materials

The Ministry of Education develops a school library program directed to public and subsidized schools (with private and public cofunding). The schools receive books, guidance, and training for library coordinators and teachers. The Ministry of Education also provides school libraries to public schools that facilitate access to reading materials, literary and nonliterary, and programs that promote reading inside schools. The Bibliotecas Escolares CRA (Scholar Library Center for Learning Resources) program has equipped 98 percent of public schools in the country over the last 20 years.

In the same way, the Ministry of Education delivers instructional materials (textbooks) for each student in the public system and each subject, including language and communication, every year. The instructional materials include textbooks, teacher books, and complementary digital resources that provide a secondary way of accessing the textbook.

In addition, the national curriculum prescribes reading materials in a wide range, and encourages teachers to select reading materials from a suggested list or from other sources. The list of suggestions for each grade can be found on each study program. Besides that list, the Ministry of Education encourages teachers to search for different types of texts (literary and nonliterary) according to the reading needs and interest of the students.

Use of Technology

The Ministry of Education’s Center for Education and Technology promotes Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and strategies for learning based on digital resources as an important issue in education. The center was created in 1992 to develop a national education network between all public and private subsidized schools and to incorporate new technologies of information and a digital culture into the educative system.

In accordance with its objective, the center has provided computers, digital learning resources, Internet access, and educational software to schools, and it has educated teachers on the use of ICT. In 2011 the first implementation of a national ICT assessment took place. To this purpose, 10,000 students in Grade 10 were assessed, and the assessment was administered in 2013 for a second time. The last results of the national ICT assessment showed that 46.9 percent of students were at the initial level, 51.3 percent of students at the intermediate level, and 1.8 percent at the advanced level.^e,13

Chile also participated in IEAʼs International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) in 2013. The results showed Chilean students performed below the international average, and that ICT skills are highly correlated to socioeconomic background.

The Center for Education and Technology has developed the “I Study” website, where students have free access to digital content in accordance with the national curriculum. Simulators, videos, and animations are part of the resources provided at this portal. This was in addition to the My Digital Workshops program, which provides training and digital resources to schools so they can provide extracurricular robotics workshops, audiovisual and technological brigades, and other activities and events for students in Grades 5 to 12.

The national curriculum for language and communication for Grades 1 to 6 additionally includes a specific statement about the importance of integrating ICT into the learning process of students. In the same way, one of the goals and objectives of the national curriculum emphasizes the need to search for information on the Internet. Specifically, the curriculum states that “ICT is integrated into the development of the objectives and goals of the three axes of the subject (reading, writing, and oral skills). The Internet provides the ability to access all kinds of texts and it constitutes one of the essential tools for searching for information and learning how to research.”¹⁴

Role of Reading Specialists

In general, classroom teachers are responsible for teaching the initial stages of reading. Special teachers and other professionals are available in some schools to support students with special needs or difficulties in reading and/or spelling.

Second Language Instruction

Immigrants comprise only 2.3 percent of Chile’s population, and most of them come from other Spanish speaking countries within Latin America.¹⁵ Therefore, Chile does not have a policy for teaching Spanish to foreign students.

Accommodation Policies for Instruction and Testing

According to the National Policy on Special Education launched in 2005, there are two modalities of education for students with temporary or permanent special education needs: special schools and regular school integration programs. However, new trends promote integration into regular schools, rather than the proliferation of special schools.

As of 2015, 5,014 schools had a school integration program.¹⁶ An inclusive school system subsidized by the state, this program provides additional support (in the context of the regular classroom) to students with temporary or permanent special education needs, favoring their presence and participation in the classroom, their achievement of learning, and an educational path. In each school, the program integrates specialist teaching support via collaborative work in the classroom; a special education grant for each student who is deemed “integrated”; educational materials and media resources; training and development; and special time to spend on evaluation, coordination, and collaborative work.^f,17

When the nature and/or degree of the disability does not allow for integration into regular schools, the educational integration takes place in special schools.^g,18 These schools serve students with sensory, intellectual, motor, communication, and/or relationship disabilities and specific language impairments at the early childhood, primary, and labor education levels. In 2013, there were 1,817 special schools across the country, of which 1,256 targeted students with only specific language disorders and other hearing impairments, visual impairments, motor disorders, autism spectrum disorders, and/or serious alterations in the ability to relate and communicate.¹⁹

Per the General Education Law and the Law on Equal Opportunities and Social Inclusion of People with Disabilities, from 2009 onward there have been regular assessments (adjusted versions of Simce, the national assessment system) for students with sensory disabilities in Grade 4 in some regions.^20,21 As of 2013, all students with sensory disabilities in Grade 6 are externally evaluated by Simce (Sistema de Medición de la Calidad de la Educación, or Education Quality Measurement System), which provides a more complete picture of the learning achieved and its context in special education in Chile. As of 2016, language and mathematics Simce tests at the primary and lower secondary education levels are accompanied by permanent accommodations for students with special education needs (e.g., hearing or visual).