Critical and Historical Analysis of the Latest Reform of Citizen Education in Chile and its Treatment of the Problem of Poverty

Abstract

In 2016, framed in the recent Chilean educational reform, a law on citizen education was promulgated. In this context, we propose a critical review of the plan resulting from this law and the public documentation related to it, paying special attention to the treatment of the problem of poverty. In methodological terms, we have considered: a review of the historical literature on the problem in Chile, the aforementioned law, the technical guidelines for its implementation, and the contents of the study programs of History, Geography, and Social Sciences in the secondary school level. Our analysis has been based principally on discussions of civic education and contemporary philosophy of the 20th century, with some authors such as Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, Robinson Lira and Gert Biesta. From the historical review, we conclude that, at some moments since the end of the XIX century, civic education in Chile has sought to channel the ways in which citizens participate, which has translated into different proposals for civic training. Regarding the approach to poverty, its absence is much more evident than its presence, where its appearance is associated with a certain economic and political utility.