President Bachelet: “Our teachers are the cornerstone of the education reform”
The new system will apply to around 850,000 teachers.
The President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, together with the Education Minister, Nicolás Eyzaguirre; and the Treasury Minister, Alberto Arenas, signed a bill to create a new statute for teachers working in publicly funded schools.
“Today we present a proposal to strengthen the reform at its core: ensuring that every classroom in Chile has a teacher with the skills, attributes and working conditions to provide every child and young person with an education of the highest quality”, the President explained.
The new National Teachers’ Policy will introduce a five-tiered professional development system for teachers. Teachers will have to complete a minimum of four years at each level before progressing to the next tier: Initial Development; Early Development; Advanced Development; Higher Development and Expert Development.
Progression through the levels will be linked to pay progression, in accordance with a Professional Teachers’ Pay Scale (Asignación por Tramo del Sistema Profesional Docente – ATSP). Similarly, teachers working in establishments with a high number of priority pupils (i.e. socio-economically disadvantaged pupils) will receive an additional allowance equivalent to 40% of the ATSP pay scale.
Salaries for new teachers will also be increased by 28%.
“Our teachers are the cornerstone of the education reform, because in the system we are building together, teachers will be the visible face of the change, of the shift in the education that the State provides to every child in this country”, she said.
Another key feature of the policy is the change to the entry requirements for students wishing to train as teachers at university. From 2016, every student embarking on an education degree will have to score a minimum of 500 points in the PSU (Chile’s standardized university entry test) and be ranked within the top 50% nationally. In 2018 the entry requirement will increase to 525 points in the PSU and to be in the top 40%; and by 2020 students will have to score 550 points in the PSU and be ranked in the top 30%.
President Bachelet added that the policy will introduce compulsory accreditation for all higher education establishments delivering teacher training programs.
To ensure quality within the teaching profession, the President confirmed that the policy will put an end to “the rule that anyone with a professional teaching qualification or degree was authorized to teach. We need to make the requirements tougher and guarantee that every child is taught by a qualified teacher.”
President Bachelet also explained that the policy, which will apply to around 850,000 teachers working in publicly funded schools, will increase teachers’ planning and preparation time to 35% of their total weekly timetable.