Chile is known worldwide as a Neoliberal laboratory, and this book opens the door to the subjectivities within that space in education. For example, the idea that better parents are the ones who pay for their children’s schools; or that admission tests applied by selective schools speaks of education quality and enhances parents’ merit.

After 40 years of consistently applying a market-based logic within the Chilean school system, where mothers and fathers are conceived as “education consumers”, this book presents critical insights into how they navigate this system and the Neoliberal subjectivities emerging from the laboratory.

The book (based on qualitative studies carried out since 2013, involving approximately 200 participants) presents the reflections, experiences and perspectives of Chilean mothers and fathers from different social classes and geographic origins whose children attend different types of schools (i.e. public, subsidized private and non-subsidized private).

Four critical education research and policy areas are addressed: i) school choice and parents’ willingness to pay for their children’s education, ii) socioeconomic school segregation and school admission processes, iii) schools’ discriminatory practices and children’s medication, and iv) parental perceptions on public and private schools, and the sociocultural schools’ composition.

The presentation will conclude with comments by Professor Mia Perry and Dr Matthew Thomas, from the School of Education, University of Glasgow.

CR&DALL Seminar Series 2022-23: Effort, fears and hopes of Chilean families in the educational market – Book Launch

Presenters: Dr Cristián Bellei (University of Chile and Austral University) and Dr Marcela Ramos (University of Glasgow)

Date: Wednesday 14th June 2023, 1000-1100

Location: Room 234, St Andrew’s Building, University of Glasgow, 11 Eldon St, Glasgow G3 6NH

Please register at Eventbrite

All are welcome and there is no fee for this event

Biographies

Dr Cristián Bellei is a Sociologist from the University of Chile, with a Master of Education Policy and Doctor of Education, both from Harvard University. He has published extensively about Chilean education, mainly regarding education policy, school change and improvement, school segregation, privatization and school choice. His latest books include "The high school in turbulent times. How has Chilean secondary education changed?" (LOM, 2020); and “Education, the broken promise. Effort, fears and hopes of Chilean families in the educational market”, which will be the topic of this presentation.

Dr Marcela Ramos is an Interdisciplinary Research Fellow at the School of Education, University of Glasgow, and a core member of CR&DALL. She has a PhD in Education (University of Bristol), a Master’s in Public Policy (School of Economics, University of Chile) and a bachelor’s in Journalism. Her research interests are at the intersection of Education, Sustainable Futures and Political Economy. In Chile, she conducted research on the topic of the marketisation of education. She is particularly interested in understanding the parental subjectivities, values, practices and beliefs regarding education among middle and upper-class parents navigating a school system characterised by selective practices, privatisation and segregation.