Rural education in Chile. Realities and challenges (Original)

Abstract

Rural education in Chile is less visible in the educational research, in the public policies and in the policies of rural development. The notion of New Rurality seeks to explain the current transformations of the rural society by rethinking the character of its education in the dynamic of the territories, forcing it to be rethink, reconceptualised, and rebuild. This change tenses the rural sector of the education, posing new challenges for its survival and reconstruction.  The objective is to present a brief critical description of the rural contextual transformations of Chile and its education, to propose challenges to the public policies and to the educational movement. The text is based on bibliographical sources, initial results of an ongoing investigation and the author's experience. It concludes with proposals about challenges: surviving as a rural school, building a relevant educational system, to generate changes and pedagogical innovations and curricular innovations. It proposes routes to implement adequate and pertinent public policies, its own pedagogical model that integrates the multigrade and community, initial and continuous formation of rural teachers and their professional development, leadership and educational management.