The Human Development Lab (HDL) at Universidad de los Andes hosted the seminar “Docencia en Chile: Diagnóstico y Políticas Públicas”, held on October 14 at the Library Building’s Auditorium D. The event, supported by the Banco de Chile, brought together representatives from academia, the public sector, and civil society to address the strategic role of teachers and the policies that shape their professional development in Chile.
The session opened with remarks from Álvaro García, Dean of the School of Economics and Business, and Jorge Rodríguez, academic of the Lab, who highlighted the importance of dialogue between research, policy, and practice to strengthen education in the country.
Moderated by Jorge Rodríguez, the panel featured Alejandra Mizala, Undersecretary of Education; Sylvia Eyzaguirre, Senior Researcher at the Center for Public Studies (CEP); and Cristián Cox, Director of the Center for Comparative Education Policies at Universidad Diego Portales.
Undersecretary Alejandra Mizala emphasized the need for a broad, cross-sector conversation on teacher training and policy implementation, noting that “It is very important to promote a transversal, public–private dialogue with the Executive to address these challenges and analyze different perspectives. We must think together about how to tackle the future challenges in teacher training in our country.”
For her part, Sylvia Eyzaguirre focused on the current difficulties in teacher preparation programs and the risks of lowering admission standards to attract more candidates. She stressed that “We face a major challenge in restoring the value of the teaching career — in remuneration, social status, and academic rigor. Lowering university entry scores only hides the problem. We need to innovate and look at how other countries have faced similar teacher shortages.”
Eyzaguirre also pointed to the importance of maintaining high expectations for pedagogical education: “Increasing the minimum standards was a step forward, but we must also create room for innovation. Current frameworks often punish creative approaches instead of encouraging them.”
Finally, Cristián Cox explored the socio-cultural forces affecting the teaching profession and the evolution of teacher policy in Chile over the past decades, stating that “Initial teacher training has played a central role in educational policy across different governments, showing remarkable continuity despite ideological differences. Understanding this trajectory is key to shaping the next phase of teacher policy.”
Cox underscored the need to sustain evidence-based policymaking that recognizes the teaching profession as the cornerstone of educational quality: “Once a system secures infrastructure and access, teacher quality becomes the decisive factor for improvement.”
The seminar concluded with an open discussion among participants, highlighting the importance of strengthening the teaching profession as a central pillar of Chile’s educational development and of maintaining sustained collaboration between universities, policymakers, and the private sector.
