The Lifelong Learning and Training
Project (Programa de Educación y
Capacitación Permanente, Chilecalifica)
Implementing Organization Ministries of Education, Economy and Labour; National Service of Training and Employment (Servicio Nacional de Capacitación y Empleo, SENCE); Chile Foundation (Fundación Chile) Language of Instruction Spanish
Funding
Federal government and the World Bank
Date of Inception 2002 – 2010
BACKGROUND
AND CONTEXT
For the past 20 years, Chile has been one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, and one of the most stable and prosperous countries in Latin America. Yet in 2002, there were still more than 4.4 million people in the country with no schooling or incomplete primary and/ or secondary education. There were also almost 500,000 illiterate adults, which corresponded to 4.3% of the population. Chile has moreover faced other challenges, such as no articula- tion between the formal, non-formal and informal education modalities, weak links between formal education and the labour market, as well as the lack of an informational system that updates individuals on the demands of the productive sector and the offers of the educational system. During the military dictatorship from 1973 to 1989, the government paid little attention to adult edu- cation. Rather, the federal financial investments were mainly focused on basic services targeting children and youths. Although there have been
positive changes in the investments regarding adult education since the re-establishment of democracy in the country in 1990, they are still limited when compared to formal education of children and youths. The current educational system is organised in a 12-year compulsory period comprising primary and second-ary levels, and tertiary non-mandatory services. Primary schooling has two 4-year cycles, and secondary has two years of basic education, followed by two additional years where students can choose between regular (scien- tific-humanist), artistic and vocational training.
In order to improve Chile’s human resource development and solve some of these educational shortages, the federal government developed, in 2002, a six-year pilot project known as The Lifelong Learning and Training Project (Programa de Educación y Capacitación Permanente, Chilecalifica), which was extended until 2010. Chilecalifica was an unprecedented programme in that it integrated education, work and economy by combining the efforts of three ministries – the Ministries of Education, Economy and Labour – as well as effective previous experiences from youth and adult education and job training initiatives. Its efforts were also innovative, since they went beyond the government and incor- porated elements from civil society as well as from the private sector. Chilecalifica was a broad initiative that included many actions, such as adult education and a certification process to recognise labour skills. To date, the initiatives that were designed under Chilecalifica are being implemented as part of different ministries’ actions. Particularly the educational upgrade (nivelación
de estudios), which was strongly promoted by the programme, is being carried out by the Ministry of Education.
THE PROGRAMME
CHILECALIFICA
The main strategy of Chilecalifica was to implement innovative actions and promote transformations within the three different learning modes, that is, formal, non-formal and informal learning, by integrating education, work and economy. Thus, the programme set the basis for the establishment of several initiatives: Educational upgrade (nivelación de estudios): created to expand the opportunity for completion of the mandatory 12 years of primary and secondary schooling in a flexible manner. This action comprised a literacy programme and a flexible adult training programme.
Vocational training (capacitación laboural): designed to strengthen the articulation of vocational education at secondary level with tertiary edu- cation by aligning the curriculum at both levels, integrate secondary and tertiary institutions with the labour market, and improve the quality and pertinence of pre- and in-service teacher training.
Labour training (capacitación laboural): designed to improve the labour skills of the youths, adults over 50 years of age, women, and unemployed individuals by increasing the funding for the National Service of Training and Employment (SENCE). Certification of Labour Skills (certificación de competencias labouraes): a mechanism to certify
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Transforming Our World: Literacy for Sustainable Developmentskills-based competencies acquired through formal, non-formal and informal learning. The certification process was designed to target in-dividuals who want to enhance their employability, i.e., those who are seeking em-ployment, or those who wish to maintain or improve current employment.
Informational system: a public informational system aimed at providing updated, useful information about professional and technical careers, as well as courses and oppor- tunities offered by tertiary education institutions. The information was developed in particular to target students, workers and employers who are seeking new employment opportunities.
Chilecalifica was characterised as being a multi-stakeholder and decentralised programme, since the implementation of its initiatives was located at national and regional levels, and involved public-private partnerships. The national level was organised into two courses of action. First, the political and strategic action established the guidelines and policies on which the programme would be based, and involved the input from the highest level, such as the ministry level. Second, the coordination and execution track was in charge to coordinate, support and follow-up the implementation and
give coherence to the execution of the programme through the work of units of execution. At the regional level there was the involvement of the secretaries, who put into action the guidelines and plans previously designed. This level also included the provision of services offered by vari-ous providers, such as private schools, vocational institutions and non-profit organisations, which were selected in annual calls for tenders.
Aims and objectives
The primary aim of Chilecalifica was to enhance Chile’s social and economic development by improving employability and promoting active citizenship, i.e. facilitating the in- volvement of individuals in all aspects of economic and social life. More specifically, Chilecalifica endeavoured to enhance the opportunities for lifelong education and training, especially for youths and adults living in poverty, and to improve the quality and access to vocational-professional learning by:
■ increasing literacy rates among
youths and adults;
■ increasing the percentage of
youths and adults who complete pri- mary and/or secondary education;
■ aligning the curriculum between
secondary vocational schools and tertiary institu-tions;
■ articulating the learning provided
in secondary and tertiary institutions with the needs and demands of the labour market;
■ improving the quality and per-
tinence of the pre- and in-service teacher training for secondary and tertiary technical-professional edu- cation;
■ increasing initiatives that apply
technology to learning services;
■ providing opportunities for certifi-
cation of individuals’ knowledge and sector-specific competencies acquired through formal and non-formal education;
■ providing opportunities for indi-
viduals to acquire and/or enhance their general and sector-specific competencies and knowledge for an improved work performance and productivity.
PROGRAMME
IMPLEMENTATION
The educational upgrading initiative was the key youth and adult educa- tional component of Chilecalifica. It was created with the main objective of increasing coverage and educa- tional opportunities free of charge for youths and adults. Contigo Aprendo was a national literacy campaign launched in 2003 aimed at enhancing students’ social integration by teaching the basic competencies in reading comprehension, writing
and mathematics. It was designed to address the educational needs of illiterate individuals who remained marginalized in the education system. To date, the campaign is a non-tradi- tional literacy programme that serves as an entry door for the other two adult education programmes, the regular and flexible adult education programmes. The flexible modality, established in 2002, is an acceleration programme for the completion of primary and secondary levels, created as an alternative programme to the regular modality, in order to address the working and personal needs of its participants, by providing services with a higher degree of flexibility in terms of schedule, location, and duration.
Recruitment and training
of facilitators
The minimum requirement to be a facilitator for the literacy programme Contigo Aprendo is to have at least a secondary degree, and be 18 years of age or older. Facilitators are volunteers, who receive a monthly monetary incentive of USD 120 that covers transportation expenses. They are required to attend a pre-service three-day training, called Jornada de Formación, where they learn about the literacy process, youth and adult education, and methodologies on literacy and numeracy, and take
part in an ongoing training aimed to deepen their knowledge and teaching skills. The majority of facilitators are university students and teachers, but there are also professionals from other fields, for instance community leaders. In the flexible modality, the facilitators are required to have a tertiary degree in teaching. However, there is no pre- or in-service teaching training, and in general they have no previous specialisation in adult education. Their ages range from 25 to 81 years, and the great majority of facilitators are females (55.2%). Also, most of facilitators teach at the primary level, and the fewest of these teach mathematics and philosophy.