Education in South America

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Ministry of Education (201 Id) Unidades Educativas del Milenio. Retrieved from

http://educacion.gob.ec/unidades-educativas-del-milenio/ [accessed 13 December 2014]. MinistryofEducation (2012). Currículo de EGB. Retrieved from http://educacion.gob.

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ec/curriculo-educacion-general-basica/ [accessed 10 December 2014]. Naim, M. (2003) Paper Tigers and Minotaurs: TIte politics ofVenezuelas economic reform, http://moisesnaim.com/wp-content/uploads/1993/09/paper-tigers-and-minotaurs-

l. pdf and http://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/88956i I/IDB· WP-346.pdf [accessed 15 Decernber 2014]. OECD (2008) The Paris Declaration on Aid Effeetiveness. OECD, http://www.oeed.org/ dae/effeetiveness/34428351.pdf and http://www.eeonstor.eu/bitstrearn/10419/88956/ I/IDB·WP-346.pdf [aceessed 15 Deeernber 2014]. Stein, E., T. Mariano, E. Koldo, 1. Eduardo and P. Mark (2006) La Política de las Políticas Públicas (2006 edn). Vol. Informe. Washington, De: Banco Interamericano De Desarrollo, pp. 36-38. Van Darnrne, w., 1. Aguerrondo, C. Burgos and M. Robalino (2013) A Story ofChange: How Ecuador seeks to sustain its development agenda through Large Scale Education Reform. http://www.vvob.be/vvob/files/20130830_paper·a_story_oCehange-how_ ecuadocseeks_to_sustain_its_development_agenda_through_large_scale_

education_reforrn.pdf and http://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/88956/1/ IDB-WP-346.pdf [aeeessed 15 Deeernber 2014]. Vinueza, J. (2005) 'Identidades en el Ecuador; POLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review 28: 83-134.

Ecuador, 2007-2014: Attempting a Radical Educational Transformation Pablo Cevallos Estarellas and Daniela Eramwell

In 2006, Eeuador's sehool system: (1) laeked prioritized public funding for edueation, (2) had an out-dated legal frarnework lhat was divorced from lhe needs of the education community, (3) showed a de jacto privatization and marketization, (4) had inadequate and insufficient physical conditions of schools, coupled with an increasing demand for education, (5) had an irrational distribution of schools in lhe territory, (6) had a minimally relevant national curriculum, (7) lacked quality educational standards, (8) lacked an educational assessment system, (9) lacked accountability mechanisms, and (10) had a devalued teaching profession wilh deficiencies in initial professional education, professional development, work conditions and quality oflife. Besides, lhe governrnent had very little control in lhe definition and implementation of public education policies. As a consequence of al! of lhis, (a) Ecuadoreans had limited and inequitable access to educational services, and (b) lhose services seemed to be of low quality, as revealed by standardized test scores (Ministerio de Educación, 20I2a). However, al! this started to change rapidly in 2007, when Rafael Correa was elected President, and since lhen Ecuador has experienced what may be lhe most radical change of its history in lhe design and implementation of national educational policies. After lhese SeVen years, lhe Ecuadorean school system is still very far from faultless, but sorne noteworlhy improvements have been ~chieved:

education has been reconceptualized as a human right and a public service, lhe national annual budget for pre-university education tripled from US$I,094.6 in 2006 to US$2,908.4 million in 2012 (Ministerio de Educación, 2012a), universal school enrolment for children aged between 5 and 15 years of age has almost been achieved, lhe public school system has recovered sorne of its lost prestige andhas grown at lhe expense of private schools, and a very ambitious plan of transformation of lhe quality of educational services is on its way. This


Ecuador: Attempting a Radical Transformation

chapter explains lhe two main lines of educational policies that have generally been applied in Ecuador since 2007 (lhose aimed at universalizing lhe educational services, and lhose aimed at improving the quality of such services), as well as lhe changes achieved along lhe way. Finally, it indudes an analysis of sorne of lhe main challenges lhat lie ahead.

In 2007, Rafael Correa became president of Ecuador, afler having promised an 'educational revolution'. In addition to lhe objeclives from lhe Decennial Plan, President Correa added three additional goals: (a) to reform the educalional lega! framework, to allow for a profound change of lhe Ecuadorean school system; (b) to re-establish lhe aulhority of the State over lhe school system,so lhat it could implement educational public policies; and (c) to redeem lhe public school, which by lhen was utterly discredited (Cevallos Estarellas, 2013: 100). In 2008, a new constitution, which prodaims lhat 'education is a right of persons lhroughout lheir lives and an unavoidable and mandatory duty of the Staté (Asamblea Nacional, 2008b, artide 26), was approved lhrough another national referendum (Asamblea Nacional, 2008a). The 2008 constitution established lhat educational rights were to be seen as part of a larger context called buen vivir (good living), a concept that originated from a local indigenous tradition, 'and refers to lhe promotion of a harmonious life among communities and between human beings and nature. It indudes respect for lhe rights of nature as well as lhe promolion of creative diversity' (United Nations Office of lhe High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2013: 6). In 2009, lhe government's four-year Plan Nacional del Buen Vivir (National Good Living Plan) was published, placing emphasis on national goals related to education as part of the attainment of good living for all Ecuadoreans (Secretaría Nacional de Planificación y Desarrollo, 2009). In 2011, lhe Ley Orgánica de Educación Intercultural (henceforlh LOEI), a new law for pre-school, primary and secondary education, was passed by lhe National Assembly (Asamblea Nacional, 2011), and its accompanying regulations followed in 2012 (Presidencia de la República del Ecuador, 2012). Advancing an intercultural outlook, the LOEI established the aims of education in Ecuador, and postulated new rights and duties for all lhe members of lhe school community. It also allowed for many of what were lhen seen as urgent educational changes. For instance, it explicitly states lhat lhe Ministry of Education will be in charge of conceiving and implementing educational policies as well as regulating Ecuador's school system. It also created a new unified and generalist Bachillerato programme lhat breaks with a very long tradition of excessive and premature specialization, and it extended lhe period of compulsory education to lhirteen years. Finally, it stipulated a new process for assigning tenure to teachers as well as the increase in teacher salaries and benefits to the same level as other public servants with similar degrees

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The context In Ecuador, lhe period between 1996 and 2006 was characterized by political instability and financial hardship, with an acute financial crisis in 1999. In those ten years lhere were eight different presidents and many more education ministers. Besides, most of lhese governments were politically feeble, and lherefore had little interest in incurring lhe kind of'political cos!' associated wilh changing a deeply damaged school system. One consequence of such political and financia! crisis was that education stopped being a priority (Cevallos Estarellas, 2013: 99). However, in 2006, during lhe final year of President Alfredo Palacio's period, lhe Ministry of Education, togelher with various stakeholders from civil society, created a proposal for a ten-year education plan that was approved in a national referendum and became of mandatory application regardless of who won lhe next presidential elections. The eight policies of lhe Plan Decenal de Educación (Decennial Plan for Education) are the following (Ministerio de Educación, 2006; 2007a): 1. Universalize Educación Inicial. 2. Universalize Educación Básica.

3. Increase Bachillerato enrolment to at least 75 per cent of lhe population in lhe corresponding age group. 4. Eradicate illiteracy and strenglhen adult education. 5. Improve lhe physical infrastructure and equipment of schools. 6. Improve quality and equity in education and implement a national assessment and accountability system. 7. Elevate lhe status of the teaching profession and improve initial teacher education, professional development, working conditions and quality of life for teachers. 8. Annually increase by 0.5 per cent of the GDP lhe amount allocated to education until at least 6 per cent is reached.

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(Ministerio de Educación, 2012c). The LOEl officialized Ecuador's lhree levels of pre-university schooling,1 which are organized here differently lhan in many

supply of education services, and (2) those applied to increase the demand for

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education services.

other countries:

1. Educación Inicial (lnitial Education), a four-year level which refers to lhe non-compulsory education of children aged Oto 4 years, and is divided into sub-Ievel1, for infants aged O to 2 years, and sub-Ievel2, for children aged 3 and 4 years. Sub-Ievel1 programmes are offered by lhe Ministry for Social and Economic lnclusion, while sub-Ievel2 programmes are offered by the Ministry of Education. 2. Educación Básica (Basic Education), a ten-year level for children aged 5 to 14 years, which is lhe Jirst level of compulsory schooling in Ecuador.

3. Bachillerato (Baccalaureate), also compulsory, a three-year level for children aged 15 to 17 years. The LOEl also established lhat lhere would be schools exclusively designed for serving only lhose students wilh special educational needs (related to disabilities or not) who cannot be included in mainstream schools (article 47). lt also institutes schools exclusively designed to serve youngsters and adults with incomplete schooling (article 50). Finally, it legitimates lhe previously existing Sistema de Educación Intercultural Bilingüe (School System of lntercultural and Bilingual Education) as an integral part of lhe national school system, to uphold lhe educational rights ofEcuador's indigenous peoples to leam wilhin their own languages and cultural eontexts (articles 77-92). In order to accomplish its ambitious educational goals, lhe govemment began to implement a thorough and systemic reform of Ecuador's school system. Such reform could be summarized in two central objectives: (a) getting all schoolaged children enrolled in school, and (b) making sure lhat the education lhey would get lhere would be of excellent quality.

1. Getting aH children enroHed in school In 2006, net national attendance rates were approximately 13.2 per cent for

Educación Inicial (Araujo and Bramwell, in press), 91.2 per cent for Educación Básica and 47.9 per cent for Bachillerato (Ministerio de Educación, 2012a). However, lhese percentages were even lower for indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorean groups, as well as for lower income families. 1I1e strategies designed' to achieve lhe goal of ensuring all children are in school can be divided into two main groups: (1) lhose applied to increase lhe

1.1 Increasing the supply of education services, especially those for whom the least options exist This fust group refers to all strategies designed to increase lhe school system's capacityto receive more students in all areas. lt can be divided into tltree sub-groups: (a) lhose aimed at opening new public schools, especially at tltose levels and modalities whose current supply was insufficient to meet lhe existing demand; (b) lhose aimed at increasing (and improving) current infrastructure, materials, equipment andhuman resources,especiallyin remote and/or historicallyunattended are as; and (c) lhose aimed at reorganizing lhe current supply of educational services, for instance wilh lhe fusion of two or more small schools in neighbouring areas into one larger school to increase tite resources available to students.

1.1.1 Increasing (and improving) school infrastructure, equipment and material, especially in remote and/or historically unattended areas By 2006, most of lhe school infrastructure was very deteriorated, and in many places did not even have basic structures such as balhrooms, according to a study by tite lnter-American Oevelopment Bank (2011). The same study reports a close relationship between lhe existence (or not) of basic infrastructure and student achievement seores, From 1999 to 2005, Ecuador only invested approximately USO 51,849,148 on school infrastructure and equipment. However, from 2008 to 2012, lheamountinvested was USO 437,290,429 (Ministerio de Educación,2012a). Before 2007, school infrastructure had no mandatory standards; in many cases it was built wilhout previous planning, did not always meet educational needs, and often presented obstacles for people wilh physical disabilities. In 2012 new infrastructure standards were issued, which ensured access for all people, including lhose with disabilities. However, there is a long way to go before all schools in Ecuador have adequate infrastructure, equipment and materials, as lhere are stUl many institutions in objectionable conditions. Sorne cases manage to get on national news and receive immediate attention (e.g., 'Colegio Vicente Rocafuerte será declarado en emergenciá, 2014).

1.1.2. Increasing the number of teachers Before 2007, new teaching positions were only available when a teacher retired. In arder to increase the number of teachers, the government increased the

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budget and thus the number of available positions. A related strategy was to revise the retiring process. making it more attractive and swift for those eligible to retire. With the relatively higb salaries paid to teachers dose to retiring, it was possible to almost cover the salaries of two new teachers (Ministerio de Educación, 2007a). Since mid-2013, the government has allocated an additional budget for hiring new teachers, with a new campaign and selection process open to a wide range of professionals, known as Quiero ser maestro (1 want to be a teacher) (Ministerio de Educación, 2013d), which will be discussed in section 2.2.2 of this chapter. By July 2014, the government had decided to extend the Quiero ser maestro campaign to a third period, which would continue until 21 September, with the hope of adding 15,000 new teachers into the public service ('Ecuador prevé contratar 15.000 docentes', 2014).

For ECE, the Coordinating Ministry of Social Development coordinates the work of three main Ministries: the Ministry of Social and Economic Inclusion, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Public Health (Ministerio Coordinador de Desarrollo Social, 2013). The Ministry of Social and Economic Inclusion offers programmes for children who do not have homes and for children who have been abused in different ways. The Ministry of Social and Economic Inclusion also offers the programme Creciendo con Nuestros Hijos (Growing with Our Children), which provides specific guidance for families with children between the ages of Oto 3 years, which allows them to stay at their homes while benefiting from ECE.1t also has Centros Infantiles del Buen Vivir (Childhood Centres for Good Living), which provide ECE programmes for children living in extreme poverty (Ministerio de Inclusión Económica y Social, 2013a). The Ministry of Education offers Educación Inicial programmes for children aged 3 and 4 years. It also coordinates the Educación Infantil Familiar Comunitaria (Community and Family ECE) programme that serves children of different indigenous nationalities (Ministerio de Educación, 2013a). Finally, the Ministry of Public Health offers health and nutrition programmes (Ministerio Coordinador de Desarrollo Social, 2013). The number of children enrolled in ECE programmes has risen dramatically in the past few years. Of course, there are still many unresolved issues. For example, there are many families who do nothave access to the prograrnmes they need,and manyprogrammes are overcrowded. For example, at the beginning of the school year 2013-2014, there were sorne media reports that there was overpopulation in many classrooms, sorne with over 50 sludents ('Planteles funcionan con sobrepoblación; 2013).

1.1.3 Opening new schools, especially at those levels and modalities whose current supply was insufficient to meet the existing demand

This strategy consisted of increasing new programmes of Educación Inicial (for ages O to 4 years), of special education, of adult education and of bilingual intercultural educatiofl, as well as strengthening existing programmes, as explained next.

(a) Educación Inicial. Before 2006, the main State-sponsored Educación Inicial programme was Nuestros niños (Our children). This programme sought to increase the options available to disadvantaged families. With funds from an international loan, it offered funding for private organizations to run early cbildhood education (henceforth ECE) programmes (Araujo and Bramwell, in press). The first goal forthe Decennial Education Plan 2006-2015 was to universalize ECE. The 2008 Constitution mirrors this commitment and the Ecuadorean government has placed a large emphasis on ECE, and it has been strengthening public ECE programmes (Educiudadanía, 2010; Ministerio Coordinador de Desarrollo Social, 2011), even though it is important to repeat here that attendance to Educación Inicial is not obligatory in Ecuador. Since approximately 2011, the Coordinating Ministry of Social Development has been developing an inter-agency strategy for ECE (Ministerio Coordinador de Desarrollo Social, 2011; 2013), Estrategia Nacional Intersectorial para la Primera Infancia de Ecuador (National Inter-Agency Strategy for Early Childhood in Ecuador). This strategy seeks to articulate health, nutrition, social services, educatían, etc., into a single, integral plan in which the State, the community and families work together to guarantee the rights of children.

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(b) Special education. Ecuador's LOEI (artide 47) claims that all children should be schooled, regardless of whether they have disabilities or not. It also insists that students with disabilities should be included in regular classrooms, as far as it is physicallyand pedagogicallyfeasible. However,it also allows for sorne exceptional cases, in which it would more beneficial for special-needs sludents to attend a special school rather than a regular school. Many efforts have gone into ensuring that both regular and special schools have adequate infrastructure, equipment and materials, and teachers have support and professional development to help them provide appropriate educational opporlunities for all students in the dassroom. There is still a long way to go in this regard. However, there have been a few advances. For example, from 2010 to 2012, the number of educators prepared for special education went from 1,575 to 2,000. A new model for inclusive education was piloted in

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171 schools and a new curriculum for students with severe disabilities was published in 2012 (Ministerio de Educación, 20 13b).

officialized (Dávalos, 2008). This institution was lheoretica11y administrated jointly

(c) Adult education. Between 1992 and 2006, lhere was no national policy for literacy and adult education, although lhere were some 10ca11y contro11ed adult literacy programmes. For example, a few local governments initiated programmes, such as Cotacachi, in lhe province of Imbabura, which used lhe Cuban melhod

Yo sí puedo (Yes 1 Can) in 2003 and in 2005 it was declared lhe first area in Ecuador lhat was free of adult illiteracy. Between 2005 and 2011, the national adult illiteracy rate remained fixed at around 8.4 per cent, and in 2007 it was at 7.9 per cent (Ministerio de Educación, 2012a). Between 2007 and 2011, the Ministry's division for adult education was in charge of several prograrnmes, one specifica11y for speakers of indigenons langnages, anolher for people living at lhe frontier zones of Ecuador, anolher for people who are incarcerated, and anolher for people wilh disabilities (UNESCO, 2009, cited in Educiudadanía, 2010). However, in 2011, national illiteracy rates were still at 8.4 per cent (Ministerio de Educación, 2012a). That year, the government began to apply lhe Yo sí puedo method nationwide, wilh focalized attention in areas of high illiteracy rates. Instead of having Bachillerato students as instructors, as had been previously the case, teachers were trained as instructors. In 2012, 83,548 people completed a literacy programme, and as a result of lhat effort by 2013 lhe literacy rate was reduced to a low 6.7 per cent (Araujo and Bramwe11, in press), wilh lhe highest impact on rural areas. As recognition of lhis accomplishment, in 2014 UNESCO presented Ecuador with a prize for its adult education programme, including education for primary and secondary levels, not just literacy programmes. As a whole, Ecuador's literacy programmes have benefited 325,000 people since 2011 (UNESCO,2014a). While lhere have been great achievements in adult education, especially in 'literacy programmes, lhe situation may be more difficult for adults wishing to finish primary and/or secondary school. There are not many options available, and information on lhe available offer is very hard to obtain. For example, there is no information about adult educalion programmes, locations or schedules in lhe Ministry of Education's website. (d) Bilingual Intercultural Education. Article 29 of lhe Constitution guarantees lhe right of lhe indigenous peoples in Ecuador to leam in lheir own language and culture. In 1988, lhe first official institution in charge of bilingual intercultural education, Dirección Nacional de Educación Intercultural Bilingüe (DINEIB) was

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between lhe central State and several indigenous organizations, but apparently it was dominated by CONAIE, a political and indigenous organization (Tuaza, 2011). In 2009, President Correa commanded DINEIB become part of lhe Ministry ofEducation and lhus lhe indigenous organization was no longer in control of lhe administration (González Terreros, 2011; Tuaza, 2011). This change was furlher officialized wilh lhe new education law (Asamblea Nacional, 2011) and wilh lhe new statute for lhe national school system (Ministerio de Educación, 2012e), which also integrated previous separate provincial instances of intercultural bilingual education administration into lhe general ones. Many criticized lhis change, and complained lhat lhe indigenous education had been 'absorbed' by the central government (e.g. Chuji, 20 11; Tuaza, 2011). The government explained lhat lhis change was necessary to avoid having two separate education systems, one 'Hispanic' and lhe olher 'Bilingual: and to ensure lhat a11 students are guaranteed lhe same educational rights (Ministerio de Educación, 2012a). In 2012, lhe number of students in intercultural bilingual schools was 46,588. Thirty-five curriculum documents were adapted for the Quichua-speaking population' of lhe highlands, which is lhe largest linguistic group, afler Spanish, in Ecuador. By lhe same year, 4,406 teachers and 374 administrative professionals had received professional development in intercultural bilingual pedagogy (Ministerio de Educación, 20 13b).

1.1.4 Reorganizing the supply oj educational services to ensure all have access Ecuador's public schools were irregulady distributed in lhe territory, which meant an unequal access to educational services for lhe people, especially those in rural areas. In 2012, lhe Ministry of Education started a detailed study of lhe current localion of schools and lhe characteristics of lheir surroundings, lhe number of students in lhose schools, the closest administrative services available to students, etc.The aim was to redistribute lhe supply of schools to make it match lhe actual demand of educational services. That could mean, in some cases, to merge schools lhat were using the same building (to facilitate lhe administration), to join small schools lhat are close (to pool resources) and to build new schools where needed (Ministerio de Educación, 2012d). This process is still being implemented.

1.2 Increasing the demand jor educational services This second group refers to strategies designed to increase families' motivation and ability to send lheir children to school (and keep lhem lhere). These can furlher be subdivided into two groups: (a) those lhat ensure that public education

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is completely free of charge, and (b) those that provide additional incentives for families to send their children to schools, and to keep them there.

(or any other pedagogical material, induding photocopies). Another teacher in

1.2.1 Strategies that ensure free public education When inquiring about the reasons for which children and adolescents aged 5 lo 17 years did not attend school, the National Statistics Institute found that the main reasan was the lack of economic resources. This was stated by 50 per cent of respondents (data from Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos, 2008, cited in PREAL, 2010). Consequently, if the goal is to attract more children to schools, thus providing equal opportunities to a11 children in Ecuador, some strategies must be directed to ensure that public educalion was completely free of charge for families, so that no one studenl would be left out for monetary reasons. We have dassified them in two groups: (a) those that prohibit any monetary payment previously required of parents, and (b) those lhat eliminate economic barriers that typically cause families to withdraw their children from schools, such as assuming the cost of students' textbooks and uniforms. (a) Prohibiting public schoo/s from requesting students or parents for reSOurces.

Ecuadorean legal documents, induding theprevious 1998 Conslitution (Asamblea Nacional, 1998, artide 67), dearly state that public education must be free for all students (Ministerio de Educación, 2012c). Yet, before 2007, public schools used to ask parents to paya supposedlyvoluntary annual fee ofUS$25 at the beginning of the school year. In order to ensure that public education was free, and that all students - even those whose parents could not afford to pay U5$25 per child could attend school, in 2007 the government forbade public schools to charge parents or caregivers,and ordered the Ministry to transfer those resources directly to the schools (Ministerio de Educación, 2007b). Furthermore, the accompanying regulations of the LOEI, in compliance with the constitutional principIe that public education must be completely free of charge, ruled that public schools are now a1so prohibited from requesting students or their families for money, no matter the cause (Presidencia de la República del Ecuador, 2012).

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the same sludy explained how he could no longer take his students on field trips because of the current prohibition. Al! teachers mentioned they had to pay with their money for al! photocopies they needed in dass (Bramwell, 2014: 101). (b) Eliminating economic barriers that typically cause families to withdraw their

children from schoo/s. Before 2007, the State did not pay for textbooks used in public schools, so in many cases their cost had to be covered by the families. In 2007, the Ministry of Education began providing public school students with textbooks. At firsl, textbooks were only delivered to students of Educación Básica on the four central subjects in the curriculum: Literacy, Maths, Social 5ciences and Natural 5ciences (in 5panish),and a1so special textbooks in Quichua were provided to students in the intercultural bilingual school system. In 2012, textbooks to study English as a foreign language and a1so for some of the subjects in Bachillerato were provided. In 2007, the beneficiaries (which induded teachers) were approximately 1.3 million and by 2013, there were 3.8 million (Ministerio de Educación, 2013b). This has been an enormous undertaking. There may well be, as there generally are in projects of this magnitude, issues that have not yet been resolved. One example, as previously mentioned, is that in Bachillerato, textbooks have been provided for Maths in year 1 as well as Biology and Language Arts for year 2. However, textbooks for other subjects and years have not yet been provided (Ministerio de Educación, 2013b). Finally, textbooks are only provided in one indigenous language (Quichua), and this could be considered as discriminatory to indigenous students whose mother tongue is not Quichua. However, this is a complex issue, as not all

indigenous languages in Ecuador have a written codeo lhis issue seems to warrant further discussion in the public policy arena. In rural areas, students in Educación Inicial and Educación Básica are also

provided with school uniforms. In 2007, approximately 82,000 students received school uniforms. By 2012, 1.2 million did (Ministerio de Educación, 2013b).

In practice, though, this strategy, as it was implemented, may have created other problems, due to the fact that the Ministry of Education does not provide

1.2.2 Strategies that provide additiona/ incentives for families lo send Iheir children lo schoo/s and keep Ihem there

now for all the resources parents used to be required to provide. For example, in one study, teachers from six different public schools in Quito explained the

5trategies that provide additional incentives for families to send their children to schools and keep them there indude offering school meal programmes at public

limitations of no longer being allowed to ask students to buy materials or pay for any other item. One of these teachers explained that they were nol allowed to ask students to buy textbooks, and thus, had to attempt to work without textbooks

schools, as well as requiring those extremely low-income families that currently receive a monetary bonus from the State to keep their children in school as a necessary condition for getting il.

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(a) Public school meal programmes. School meal programmes in Ecuador began in the year 1999 with international aid but, by 2005, the programmes were financed by the Ecuadorian government (Araujo and Bramwel!, in press). Beginning in 2007, the programme started to grow both geographically and in the number of school year days covered. The programme used to offer lunches only in the most disadvantaged areas, but now it offers a mid-morning snack for students in

Educación Inicial and Educación Básica (up until 7th grade) in urban are as, and breakfast for students in Educación Inicial and Educación Básica (up until 10th grade) in rural areas. In 2007, the beneficiaries of the programme were 1.3 million students. By20 13, the number had increased to 2.1 million (Ministerio de Educación, 2013a). A logical next step could be to increase the breakfast to al! education levels. (b) Bonus for disadvantaged families, which they can receive only if their children are in schoo/. The Ministry of Social and Economic Inclusion offers a monthly 'human development bonus' of US$50 for mothers living in extreme poverty. Recently, the Ministry of Social and Economic Inclusion emphasized the 'coresponsibility' of the bonus, and the conditioning of the bonus to health and

education. Thus. mothers receiving the bonus must conduct a minimum number of pregnancy check-ups, a minimum number of medical check-ups for children aged up to 5 years and a minimum number of family planning talks (for women within a certain age-range). They must also prove that any children and adolescents under their care are attending school and that no children or adolescents under the age of 15 years are working (Almeida, 2009; Ministerio de Inclusión Económica y Social, 2013b). Almeida (2009) reviews the literature related to similar programmes in other countries around the world as well as countries in Latin America. She summarizes the conclusions of such studies and says that similar policies have influenced and increased students' access to education as well as decreasing school abandonment and child labour. She does warn, however, that unless the State simultaneously implements strategies for increasing access to education, especially for children and adolescents from disadvantaged families, it is less likely children of women who access the bonus will be able to access school. Thus, this strategy may be adequate, as long as other efforts to facilitate access to school continue as needed.

1.3 Reviewing achievements in net attendance and illiteracy rates Probably as a result of applying the aboye strategies for getting all children enrolled, school attendance to school has increased. Also, where this was


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measured, it has increased more for the groups of the population that typically had the least access to educational services. In Educación Inicial, it is difficult to measure attendance given the many different programmes and the various institutions leading them. However, there is clear indication that the number of children included in ECE programmes has increased. For example, for programmes offered or coordinated by the Ministry of Social and Economic Inclusion, the number of children that attended went from 196,030 in 2006 to 279,936 in 2013, which is approximately equivalent to 20.9 per cent of children under 5 years old (Araujo and Bramwell, in press). For Ministry of Education programmes, the numbers went from 120,038 children in 2009 to 204,207 children in 2012 (Ministerio de Educación, 2013b).' In Educación Básica, the national net attendance rate went from 91.2 per cent in 2006 to 95.4 per cent in 2011. Historically disadvantaged groups show greater gains. For example, for those that self-identify as Indigenous, the net attendance rate in 2006 was 88.9 per cent. By 2011, it was 95.5 per cent. For those that selfidentify as Afro-Ecuadoreans, the numbers are similar but lower, and they also show thatAfro-Ecuadoreans are still the group with the lowest attendance rate for Educación Básica. In 2006, the net attendance rate for this group was 87.4 per cent. By2011, itwas 93.6 per cent. For those that self-identify as of mixed heritage (the majority in Ecuador), on the other hand, the data mirrors the national average: 91.5 per cent in 2006 and 95.8 per cent in 2011. Those that self-identify as White show the least gain but the percentages are high: 93.6 per cent in 2006 and 95.0 per cent in 2011. From 2006 to 2011, one fifth of the population with the highest earnings has maintained a net attendance rate around 97 per cent. The fifth of the population with the lowest income, however, went from 87 per cent in 2006 to 94 per cent in 2011 (Ministerio de Educación, 2012a). In Bachillerato, the net attendance rate went from 47.9 per cent in 2006 to 62.1 per cent in 2011. For Ecuadoreans that self-identify as White, the rate went from 49.3 per cent in 2006 to 64.6 per cent in 2011 - both percentages higher than the national average. For those that self-identify as of mixed heritage, the rates went from 50 per cent in 2006 to 65.5 per cent in 2011, also higher than the national average. Those that self-identify as Indigenous went from 24.2 per cent in 2006 to 46.4 per cent in 2011. This is still far below the national average, but does show a larger gain. Those that identify as Afro-Ecuadoreans went from 44.1 per cent in 2006 to a 57.6 per cent in 2011. However, the gain for this group remains the smallest, at least in terms of net attendance rate (though analysis of gross attendance rate might show a different result) (Ministerio de Educación,2012a).

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It would be highly inaccurale lo infer, from lhe facl tbal lhe current

net attendance rate for Bachillerato is about 60 per cent, tbat approximately 40 per cent of adolescents are not in the school system, as some might think. This calculation fails to consider tbe fact that many children are enrolled in Bachillerato, but are not all the exact age tbey should be, as is shown by the gross attendance rate for Bachillerato tbat was 89.9 per cent in 2012 (Ministerio de Educación, 20 13a). It is dear tbere is still much to be done in terms of getting all the children into school, but progress and an upward trend can generally be observed.

2 Improving the quality of education The achievement of universal enrolment by a country's school system is not meaningful enough in educational terms, since it is not correlated witb what students are learning. Ecuador reached tbe United Nations' Millennium Development Goal of universal primary completion way before tbe expected deadline of 2015, but such an accomplishment has not demonstrated tbat Ecuadorean school graduates are acquiring the capabilities that tbey need in order to become fully functioning members of society, active and responsible citizens, and industrious economic agents. Altbough defining quality in education is very complicated, a frequently used, though controversial, indicator is the students' score in large-scale standardized tests tbat assess basic skills of Reading and Matbs. Up until now, Ecuador's record in test scores has been quite poor, albeit scarce: the only international studies in which tbe country has participated and which have produced comparative results are UNESCO's Segundo Estudio Regional Comparativo y Explicativo de la Calidad de la Educación (SERCE), which took place in 2006,and UNESCO's Tercer Estudio Regional Comparativo y Explicativo de la Calidad de la Educación (TERCE), in 2013.4 In the first of these assessments, Ecuador ranked at less tban one standard deviation below tbe mean, botb in Matbematics and Reading for 3rd and 6tb grades (UNESCO, n.d.). However, Ecuador's results in TERCE were notably better: according to preliminary data (UNESCO,2014b), Ecuador is one of tbe countries whose results have improved tbe mos!. For example, 3rd grade students obtained 56 points more in Literacy in TERCE (2014) tban tbey did in SERCE (2006). AIso, whereas tbe 2006 results placed Ecuador near tbe bottom of tbe list (Ministerio de Educación, 2014c), tbe 2014 results place it above tbe mean (Instituto Nacional de Evaluación Educativa,2014b).


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Even tbough tbere is no condusive evidence that could support any daim about the quality of Ecuador's education, the significantly higher TERCE test scores in comparison to SERCE could be an indication that tbe quality of education in Ecuador is improving. AIso, there is sorne very indirect evidence that at least shows that Ecuadoreans perceive that public education is getting better. This is reflected, for example, in the migration of at least 74,000 students from private and co-financed schools to public schools, between 2006 and 2011 (Ministerio de Educación, 2012a). In addition to that, Latinobarómetro, an independent company based in Chile, conducted a survey in all Latin American countries comparing tbe perceptions that the citizensof tbese countries have of tbeir own school systems (Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos, 2011). When asked how tbey would rate tbe overall quality of public and private education, tbe answer given by Ecuadoreans was one of the highest in the region: 6.8 and 7.12, respectively; higher tban tbe region's average, which was 5.8 and 6.57, respectively (Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos, 2011: 158). Such a positive perception might be due to tbe fact tbat, over tbe past seven years, tbe Ecuadorean government undertook several actions that allegedly sought to improve the quality of tbe educational service. These actions were part of a macro strategy tbat has been consistently implemented by the Ecuadorean government since 2007, which has tbree main micro strategies: (a) redefining tbe general purpose of the school, so that it aims at offering equal educational opportunities to all Ecuadorean citizens, (b) improving the professional capacities of current educatars, and attracting and retaining excellent educational professionals, and (c) overturning tbe traditional dynamic of assessing and improving schools, to ensure tbat schools tbemselves and tbeir educators become tbe main agents of change. In tbe following paragraphs we shall review these tbree strategies. 2.1 Redefining the general purpose olschooling

Until 2010, Ecuador's curricula at its tbree levels (Educación Inicial, Educación Básica and Bachillerato) were botb minimally relevant and out-dated. For example, the lO-year Educación Básica curriculum had been reformed in 1996, and had not been changed since then. In 2007, a study made by Ecuador's Ministry of Education found that it had little impact at tbe dassroom level, since (a) it was little known by teachers, (b) it lacked precision as to what had to be taught every year, which made it difficult to apply, and (c) it lacked elear criteria for evaluation (Ministerio de Educación, 2011d: 8).



As for the 3-year Bachillerato, it was curricularly fragmented, and students graduated from it with very different learning outcomes, depending on the type of Bachillerato that they had attended. Until 2010, there were five types of Ecuadorean Bachillerato: (a) the Bachillerato in Science, which was collegebound and could be of three sub-types: Maths and Physics, Biology and Chemistry, and Social Sciences, each type determining future college studies; (b) the Technical Bachillerato, which had the purpose of preparing students for trades and short professions, such as automobile repair, agriculture, hotel management, accounting, etc., and would only allow its graduates to study related careers in college; (c) the Bachillerato in Arts, which prepared students in specialized programmes of Music, Painting, and Graphic Design, or of Pottery; (d) the Popular Permanent Bachillerato, a sub-system that was originally made for adults with incomplete secondary education, but in fact accepted also children and adolescents; and (e) the Bilingual Intercultural Bachillerato, which aimed at the indigenous populations. Each of these types of Bachillerato had several sub-types, and each of them had its own curriculum. Tbis curricular multiplicity generated unequal educational opportunity. For example, students who lived in rural areas tended to be confined to secondary schools that typically offered non-college-bound types of Bachillerato, and thus were automatically denied the possibility of accessing the university. Another problem with the previous system was that it was inefficient, as the students had to choose the type and sub-type of Bachillerato ther were to study before the age of 14 years, and because of that oflen made mistakes that affected them for the rest of their lives. In addition to all the aboye, most of these curricula had not been fully reformed since the late 1970s,and tended to be out-dated and irrelevantto the needs of the twenty-first century students (Ministerio de Educación, n.d.a). As a response to these problems, in 2010 the government updated the national curriculum for Educación Básica, and in 2011 it replaced the previously multiple Bachillerato curricula with the Bachillerato General Unificado (Unified General Baccalaureate, henceforth BGU) curriculum. Perhaps the single most important characteristic of the new curricula was that they emphasized the generalist nature of pre-college education, thus breaking away from a very long tradition of precocious educational specialism. Tbus, the BGU curriculum includes a common core of fourteen obligatory basic subjects that all Bachillerato students have to take that presents a mix of Humanities, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences (Maths, Spanish Language and Literature, Philosophical Tbinking, Physics, Chemistry, Historyand Social Sciences, English as a Foreign Language, Computer Literacy, Physical Education, Art Education, Biology, Physics and Chemistry,

Education for Citizenship, and Business and Entrepreneurship), which is equivalent to 90 weekly dass periods, and which supposedly will allow students to acquire the essential basic learning relevant to their general education (Ministerio de Educación, n.d.a). In addition to this common core curriculum, Bachillerato students must choose between two additional options, depending on their interests: ageneralist branch of30 weekly dass periods thatconcentrates on the sciences (Bachillerato en Ciencias), or a technical branch of up to 45 weekly dass periods thattrains them in one specific trade (Bachillerato Técnico). Students who choose the latter option are, however, not legally barred from applying to any university career. Unlike the previous types of Bachillerato, each of which aimed at a different objective, usually connected to the social dass for which it used to cater, the BGU's goals are preparing equitably to all students (a) for life and participation in a democratic society, (b) for the workplace and entrepreneurship,and (c) to continue universitystudies (Ministerio de Educación, n.d.a; 2011b; 2011c). One year afler releasing the BGU curriculum, in 2012 the Ministry of Education issued curricular standards of student learning allegedly aligned to the Educación Básica and the BGU curricula, and which describe the minimum learning outcomes that all students should acquire in five subjects (Maths, Spanish Language and Literature, Natural Sciences, Social Studies, and English as a Foreign Language) at five different stages during their compulsory schooling: 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th grades of Educación Básica, and 3rd grade of Bachillerato (Ministerio de Educación del Ecuador, n.d.b). Other important elements when considering a correct application of the curriculum in the classroom are the textbooks that are supposedly based on it. In section 1.2.1 of this chapter, we discussed the use of textbooks as a strategy that was used to eliminate barriers that prevent students entering and remaining in Ecuador's school system. Here we are to consider them as a strategy to improve the quality of students' learning. When the Ministry of Education started the free textbooks policy for public schools, it simply bought textbooks in the market. However, afler the Educación Básica curricular adjustment of 20 lO, it asked local textbook companies to compete with each other in designing the best possible textbooks based on the new up-dated curriculum. Simultaneously, the Ministry established many procedures to ensure the books' quality, induding both internal and external revisions (Le., see Contrato Social por la Educación, 2008). Still, sorne have questioned the content and/or pedagogical approach of the textbooks (i.e. see Contrato Social por la Educación, 2011, or Patiño, 2013), so although this is stUI an unsolved issue, it is dear that

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lhe quality of a textbook will always be perfectible, and it is expected that they will be continuously improved. A few years after its implementation, the new curricula have shown sorne problems lhat need to be fixed. Among lhem we could mention these:

teachers. 'Ihe lhird relates to retaining lhe very best teachers, whieh includes increasing salaries, offering a professional career palh, offering professional development and conducting remedial teacher evaluations (Ministerio de Educación,2012a).

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a. Lack of coherence between some parts of lhe curriculum of Educación Básica and some parts of lhe curriculum of BGU. Given that the two are lhe only levels of compulsory education in Ecuador, there should be continuity in terms of contents. For example, the Natural Sciencescurriculum of 8th, 9lh and 10lh grades, which mainly focuses on biology and ecosystems, gives students little background knowledge for understanding the subjects of Physics and Chemistry in lhe first year of BGU (Ministerio de Educación del Ecuador, n.d.a; Ministerio de Educación del Ecuador, 2011e). b. Excessive breadlh in some curricular areas. For example, lhe Social Studies currieulum in lhe 9th grade of Educación Básica requires students to study world history, from lhe African beginnings ofhumanity to lhe end of lhe nineteenth century. The consequence of such a stipulation is, of CDurse, that teachers are obliged to fast-forward lhrough an extremelyvast content, favouring breadlh over deplh, and in so doing they do not encourage students' understanding ofhistorieal processes. 'Ihis may be problematic, as some studies suggest lhat depth is more important to long-term and significant learning lhan breadlh (Le., Schwartz et al., 2008).

2.2 Improving the capacities of educators in the context of enhancing the status of teaching as a profession Many argue lhat ensuring great teachers for students is of lhe utmost importance (Le., Barber and Mourshed et al., 2010; OECD, 2011; SABER Teacher Initiative, 2012; UNESCO, 20l3), as school systems cannot be better lhan lhe professional educators that operate lhem. However, in 2007 lhe government encountered a severely devalued teaching profession. For example, publie school teachers earned less lhan any other public servant wilh similar credentials, there was no transparent system or critería for selecting teachers, initial teacher education was aften irrelevant, cantinuous education was generally low quality, there was no professional career path for teachers, among olher issues (Ministerio de Educación,2012a). 'Ihe government designed a set of lhree main strategies aimed at improving and elevating lhe status of the teaching profession. 'Ihe first relates to initial teacher education programmes. 'Ihe second relates to selecting lhe best possible

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2.2.1 Improving education programmes to prepare the very best teachers There is sorne evidence that teacher education in Ecuador is not providing teacher candidates with adequate preparation (Fabara, 2013). 'Ihis conclusion is

suggested by lhe low percentage of teachers lhat manage to pass lhe basic teacher entrance tests. In 2013, lhe government created lhe National University of Education (UNAE), which was mandated by lhe Constitution. 'Ihe aim of lhis entity is to prepare future teachers in high-quality and relevant programmes (Ministerio de Educación, 2012a), as wel! as to become a reference for olher universities lhat prepare future teachers. Unfortunately, allhough the instal!ations have a capacity of 250 students, at the moment it has less than 30 students enrol!ed ('Con 24 estudiantes empezará la Universidad Nacional de Educación', 2014), so it will take some time to find out whelher lhe new university willlive up to its high exp ectations. A further consideration is lhat lhe quality of teacher educators is essential to the quality of teacher education (UNESCO, 20l3). 'Ihe Ecuadorean government has been offering fuI! scholarships for universityprofessors to studypostgraduate programmes abroad. However, lhe areas of study listed for these scholarships do not include education (Secretaría Nacional de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación, n.á). We were not able to find olher programmes related to teacher educators.

2.2.2 Selecting the best possible teachers

If initial teacher education were of high quality, perhaps teacher selection processes in Ecuador could be simpler. However, given the misgivings of initial teacher education, a new nationwide process for teacher selection was established. Before 2007, selection processes for educators were locally defined and sometimes problematic. In 2007, lhe Ministry of Education established an impartial, transparent system of national tests for al! who wish to teach in the public education system (Ministerio de Educación, 2011a). Beginning in 2012, with the new education law's accompanying regulations, teacher candidates are also required to pass a psychological test. If lhey pass this test, lhey can continue with lhe rest of lhe selection process (Ministerio de Educación, 2012c). By 2012,


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320,000 candidates had registered for the test, 21,200 had passed it and 18,820 had secured new teaching positions (Ministerio de Educación, 2012a). This is certainly a great improvement compared to the preVious condition.

Of course, doubts remain and processes such as these can always be improved. For example, the government's educational assessment agency, the Instituto Nacional de Evaluación Educativa (known as INEVAL), recruits teachers from within the school system to he!p construct the items that will be part of the subject-specific tests that are used both to assess in-service teachers and teacher candidates (Instituto Nacional de Evaluación Educativa, 20!3b). One could wonder whether, if the goal is to change the education system, this is the most advisable strategy. These being current teachers, it is possible their view of what should be on the teacher assessment tests reflects the previous view, which is the view sought to be changed. Furthermore, in sorne instan ces, Dile couId daubt that teachers had sufficient knowledge to construct these tests (Instituto Nacional de Evaluación Educativa, 2013a). For example, the new Bachillerato curriculum includes a few new subjects such as citizenship education, which is not offered as a degree in universities in Ecuador nor, for that matter, in other countries in the world. The teachers deve!oping the tests were very new to the subject, which had only begun to be taught in schools in 2012 (Ministerio de Educación, 20Ilf). Did they have enough knowledge to construct these tests? What kind of conception did they have about what a citizenship education teacher should know?

2.2.3 Retaining the very best teachers There are a large variety of strategies to retain the very best teachers. One is teacher induction programmes. Many studies highlight the importance of teacher induction programmes (OECD, 2011; SABER Teacher Initiative, 2012; UNESCO, 2013), provided they are quality programmes. Having a mentor with previous experience in the same school as well as the number of hours the mentor spends with the new teacher seem to be important factors to consider (SABER Teacher Initiative, 2012). In Ecuador, formal induction programmes have only recently been considered (Ministerio de Educación, 20 12b). Another important motívator is attractive working conditions such as the

following (Glewwe et al., 2008; OECD, 2011; SABER Teacher Initiative, 2012; UNESCO,2013): • an acceptable teacher-student ratio (Le. approximate!y 30 students in _primary,20 in secondary);


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• the quality of school infrastructure (having toilets, covered classrooms, non-dirt floors, e!ectricity, a schoollibrary, etc.); • competitive pay; • quality re!ationships with students and colleagues; • support from schoolleaders; • high-quality professional education; • aUractive and varied career opportunities/paths aod a high occupational status; and • autonomy and decision-making power for teachers. Ecuador has made varying degrees of progress on different fronts. In terms of teacher-student ratio, the World Bank reports that the ratio for primary school was 18, and 12 in secondary school in 2012 (World Bank, n.d.a; n.d.b). In terms of pay, salaries for novice public teachers rose from US$396 in 2006 to US$775 in 2011, and then to US$817 in 2012. This increase puts teachers' salaries at the same leve! as other public employees with similar education credentials. It also ensures that teacher obtain the same benefits (Ministerio de Educación,2012a). Professional deve!opment for teachers is often seen as key to improving education and also supporting teachers (Nag et al., 2014; OECD, 2011; SABER Teacher Initiative, 2012; Timperley et al., 2007; UNESCO, 2013). However, of course, certain types of professional development seem to prove more effective than others. For example, a systematic long-term approach is recommended, and 'one-off' sessions are not (Timperley et al., 2007). AIso, effective feedback and follow up in the classroom is suggested (Westbrook et al., 2013; OECD, 2011). From 2008 to 2013, professional development courses were taken by approximate!y 108,000 in-service teachers (Ministerio de Educación, 2012a). These courses were not 'one-off' sessionsj most were 40 hour-Iong sessions.

However, they did not include feedback on participants' classroom practice. There was also a mentoring programme designed to visit teachers in their classrooms and give constructive feedback on their teaching abilities. However, this initiative was not directly re!ated to the professional development courses. In this regard, there have been recent changes, as the new courses planned for 2014 do include a classroom practice feedback component (Ministerio de Educación,2014a). Additional options for teacher professional development are scholarships offered by the government. Some scholarships are for specific training, such as scholarships for English teachers to trave! to English-speaking countries and



study English in their universities (Secretaría Nacional de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación, 20 13; 2014). Other scholarships are for public teachers to complete Masters' programmes in Educatían: semi-distance learning prograrnmeswith fourrecognized universities in Spain (Ministerio de Educación, 2014b). Before 2011, there were not many options for teachers in terms of a professional career. In 2011 a mOfe attractive and merit-based educational Career

of a change initiative, it is individuals and organizations that really implement change (Hall and Hord, 2011). Thus, several researchers speak of other types of perspectives and approaches, different from a technical-rational approach. Fullan and Stiegelbauer (1991), for example, describe a 'mutual-adaptation' approach. Within this perspective, 'change often is, and should be, a result of adaptations and decisions made by users as they work with the particular new policies or programmes, with the policy or programme and the user's situation mutually determining the outcome' (1991: 38). Having reviewed several studies,Anderson (2010: 74) conduded that 'whether by design or by default, mutual adaptation remains lhe most realistic conceptualization of what happens when educators genuinely attempt to

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system was institutionalized in the new education law (Ministerio de Educación,

2012c). It indudes five professional figures: teacher (with monthly wages going from US$817 to US$I,676), school headmasters (US$I,850 to US$2,450), and the new positions of mentor, advisor and auditor (US$2,230). These new positions are part of a conception of a new model for education, as explained below. It is difficult to determine the degree of autonomy and decision-making power of teachers in Ecuador. However, as explained in the next section, there may still be a way to go - at least in public schools - in this regard.

2.3 Overturning the traditional dynamic of improving the quality of education, to ensure that schools and educators become the main agents of change Education in Latin America has traditionally been hierarchical, bureaucratic and centralized (Aguerrondo and Xifra, 2012), and the same may be said about Ecuador's school system (PREAL, 2010). The central office of the Ministry of Education publishes mandates that all educators have to follow - or else be penalized. This can be observed in most Ministry mandates published on their official website. This system generally reflects what Datnow and Park (2009) call a 'technicalrational' approach to policy. In this approach, the (sole) makers of policy plan, design, implement and evaluate policy. And thus, 'the causal arrow of change travels in one direction - from active, thoughtful designers to passive, pragmatic implementers' (Datnow and Park, 2009: 348). However, there may be problems with this system, especially when applied to education. Just as farmers might exchange one technology for another, previously many policy makers and external programme developers assumed that implementing a new policy was as simple as replacing one programme with another (Anderson, 2010). However, many have now realized that a simple mandate or public dedaration does not mean that schools and practitioners will change what lhey have been doing. In other words, while governments can announce the adoption

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implement new ideas, prograrnmes and practices'.

As Aguerrondo and Xifra (2012) explain, studying Latin America but Ecuador more specifically, it was urgent to change the hierarchical, bureaucratic and centralized system and its technical-rational approach. It was obviously very necessary for schools and educators to have more autonomy. However,

Aguerrondo and Xifra also warn that leaving schools and educators completely alone, with no support and guidance, brings other types of problems. They speak of another model, which they call a 'systemic model'o This model has three components: executive, support and control. The executive component

provides the vision, lhe guide (which it should construct along with all citizens). The support component provides help to schools and educators, such as professional development. This reflects the view (and research finding) that a11 change involves learning (Fullan and Stiegelbauer, 1991; Hall and Hord, 2011). Learning to use new material, learning new teaching melhods or gaining a different understanding - change/improvement/new plans ... all involve learning something new. The control component relates to accountability, to ensure that schools - as well as the entire system - are on the right track with regards to reaching the (hopefully consensual) vision for education.

The Ecuadorean government has been attempting to change the hierarchical, bureaucratic and centralized school system and its technical-rational approach. For example, it reconceptualized the central office of lhe Ministry of Education, similar to what Aguerrondo and Xifra (2012) suggest, as being in charge of the executive component of the system and distributed other responsibilities to offices doser to schools (Ministerio de Educación, 2012e). It also began changing the entire dynamic and relationship between the Ministry of Education and schools towards what Aguerrondo and Xifra propose.



Until 2011, Ecuadorean schools were controUed by educational supervisors, which are what Aguerrondo and Xifra caU 'inspectors'. Ecuador's supervisors were an integral part of lhe aulhoritarian, bureaucratic school system. They visited schools to ensure lhat lhey were complying wilh the mandates (mostly referring to processes, not outcomes). If they were not, lhen lhe supervisors had to ensure that schools and/or educators were penalized until lhey complied wilh lhe mandates. In 2011, lhe Ecuadorean government eliminated lhe position of supervisor, and replaced it wilh two different education professionals: advisors and auditors (Ministerio de Educación, 20 12a). Advisors represent lhe suppor! component mentioned by Aguerrondo and Xifra. Their job is to support schools in their own distinct attempts to achieve educalional aims. This, many times, indudes capacity building, and thus, advisors are meant to work dosely wilh mentors mentioned aboye, as wel! as wilh the school headmasters. Auditors, on lhe olher hand, represent lhe control component mentioned by Aguerrondo and Xifra. Their job is to assess lhe degree to which schools have achieved educational outcomes and work dosely with advisors to give schools feedback and help lhem move doser to achieving lhe educational goals al! citizens have come to agree upon, facilitated bythe executive

In olher cases, lhe government publishes suggestions about procedures to fol!ow, which in some cases may lhen be misunderstood as mandates by schools, and in olher cases by school districts, which may enforce compliance. One example is a model for student evalualion in al! lhe subjects, which is not obligatory for schools, but it seems that some schools are taking lhem as such. In a recent case study, six teachers from public schools in Quito daimed lhat lhe Ministry of Education gave precise instructions as to how evaluations are to be conducted (BramweU, 2014). Some of lhem said the instructions were lhe same for al! teachers regardless of lhe level or subject, and lhat al! teachers should inelude the same mandatory ingredients. such as written homework, oral tests, written tests, individual work and group work and, at lhe end of each period, a written exam. However, it seems lhe participants (and possibly lheir school leaders also) misunderstood at least some of lhe instruclions. For example, lhe instructions do not mention 'oral tests' but instead, 'oral presentations', and in no par! of lhem does it say lhat lhese evaluation components are of obligatory application for anyteacher (Ministerio de Educación, 2013c). Thus, we lhink lhat lhe government should be aware of lhe possibility lhat,given the dominant school culture, an important strategy to improve the quality of education might backfire.

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component. Auditors are supposed to work dosely wilh lhe National Institution for Educational Evaluation (INEVAL) to assess schools and provide lhem wilh feedbaclc. INEVArs legal mandate is to evaluate schools, schoolleaders, teachers and students nationwide and to provide feedback at a level lhat is useful to schools, as wel! as global information useful to policy. Auditors also use

information from improvement plans developed in each school, as wel! as school self-evaluations, as information to provide feedbaclc. Schools are meant to develop lheir improvement plans wilh lhe help of advisors (Ministerio de Educación,2012c). What we have briefly described aboye is lhe model proposed by lhe Ecuadorean government, and lhe one lhat is induded in lhe LOEI and other documents. However, lhis is a very diflicult change to achieve, and one lhat goes against the dominant cultural tendencies, which seem to favour vertical, authoritarian styles of organization. It is possible that lhe Ministry of Education could be issuing contradictory messages and even contradictory policies. For example, saturating schools with lots of regulations lhat rule everyday practices and lhat are expected to be strictly obeyed, as it seems still occurs according to publications available on lhe Ministry's oflicial site, is a characteristic of lhe previous traditional system.

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Conclusion There is no doubt lhat Ecuador has had very significant educational advances in lhe past seven years. Education has been highly emphasized and (re) conceptualized as a right, and lhe public schools have recovered some of their former prestige. The new legal framework, and especiaUy lhe LOEI, has put lhe bases for building a new school system lhat offers equal educational opportunity for al!. The Ministry of Education has re-positioned itself as the decision-maker institution of the school system, afler many years of having a marginal role in il. The budget for pre-university education has tripled, and its continuous funding is guaranteed by the Constitution. In terms of access to school, many strategies have been put in place to increase both lhe supply and lhe demand of education, such as expanding infrastructure and ensuring public education is reaUy free of charge for families. There are still many ways in which strategies to increase access to education could be improved, and some ideas are described aboye. However, aU in aU, statistics showa definite increase in school attendance since 2006, wilh traditionaUy exduded groups showing greater increases in enrolment.


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In terms of lhe quality of education, many actions have been taken in order to (a) redefine and restructure lhe purpose of schooling to offer equal opportunities to aH, (b) enhance and revalue the educational professions and (c) overturn the traditional dynamic of school improvement to ensure lhat schools themselves and lheir educators become the main agents of change. Although there is no definite answer as to if or to what degree education quality has improved, at least

Ecuador can celebrate a significant increase in Reading and Maths scores for 3rd and 6th graders on a recognized regional test.There is. of ccurse, much more to be done to improve lhe quality of education in Ecuador. However, one must also remember lhat changes in the quality of education are hard and take several years to achieve. Regardless ofhow difficult it is to improve education, most countries strive to

lhis aim. How else to ensure equal opportunities for all? How else to guarantee that the future of children does not depend on lheir elhnicity or gender, who lheir parents were or what family they come from 1 In Ecuador, at least, it seems lhat much has been advanced towards lhis goal.

Notes Ecuador also has several types of post-secondary education programmes, which are not regulated by LOEI, but by a different law, the Ley Orgánica de Educación Superior (Asamblea Nacional del Ecuador, 2012). This chapter, however, focuses on the schooling the State must provide to a11: education up until the Bachillerato level. 2 'Quichua' is the traditional Spanish name of the variation of the Runa Simi language spoken in Ecuador, which in Peru is known as 'Quechua: Its speakers constitute the second largest linguistic group in Ecuador, after Spanish speakers. 3 According to the Ministry ofEducation, in 2013 the number of children enrolled in Educación Inicial rose again, but we could not find trustworthy sources to attest to this. 4 These two international tests inelude only Latin American countries. However, Ecuador wiIl participate in the PISA educational assessment starting in 2015, in a modality caBed 'PISA for Development' (Instituto Nacional de Evaluación Educativa, 2014a).

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