Curriculum Change and Social Inclusion - International Bureau of ...

These efforts continued in all Latin American countries
throughout the twentieth century. In the 1960s, the rate of
expansion of Latin American education was the highest in
the world: between 1960 and 1970 the growth index for
higher education was 258.3%; for secondary education,
247.9%; and the enrolment rate in basic education grew
by 167.6% (Torres & Puiggrós, 1997). Expansion of the
system was, however, always associated with centralized
policies in curricular matters.
III. OBSOLESCENCE AND INTERNAL
DIFFERENTIATION
By the end of the 1970s and during the 1980s, unpromising
diagnoses begin to accumulate that questioned the capacity
of the education systems of the region to offer a good
education to the whole school-age population (Tedesco,
1992).
On the one hand—and as previously pointed out—
although the system had increased enrolment capacity in
many countries, Latin American researchers, who focused
on the search for possible relationships between the type
of education received and the social origin of the students,
revealed the existence of firmly differentiated educational
circuits in a system supposedly meant to offer the same
educational opportunities for all. 3 Distribution of knowledge
was not egalitarian, but discriminated by social sector. On
the other hand, changes in society revealed the existence
of a school that was transmitting out-of-date information
that lacked social significance. Within this frame, the
changes and continuities that were operational in the
traditionally centralized mechanisms of curricular
regulation will be specified.
1. Modifications in study plans and programmes
Faced with social changes indicating the need to come up
with a new type of knowledge for the productive participation
of citizens, the countries of the region set about introducing
modifications in their study plans and programmes. In the
case of Argentina, for example—and as part of a more
general regional trend—various attempts towards the
updating and reformulation of study plans and programmes
were evident from the 1960s until the 1990s. 4 These efforts
to launch curricular reform pursued two main objectives:
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• incorporating into schooling up-to-date contents and
new forms of organizing teaching (for example, the
contents of different disciplines were united into areas
of knowledge);
• adjusting the curriculum to suit the political necessities
of some of the current governments.
In all cases, curricular renovation continued under the aegis
of a centralized curriculum with highly specified contents
that teachers had to execute without any consideration of
differences in the student population.
2. Textbook policy until the 1990s
Even if curricular reforms were numerous, the same could
not be said about the production of new textbooks. Until
the 1990s, textbooks in general were mostly re-editions of
old ones. This was justified by the difficulties that the
publishers encountered in obtaining official approval for
new proposals. Committees in charge of these matters were
not only slow, they also responded to the government in
power. The chances of obtaining approval of a book
depended mostly on the lobbying ability of different
publishers. Books in use until the late 1980s had been
published in the 1940s or 1950s—and even in the 1930s!
This resulted in a significant lack of synchronization
between the changes at the curricular level and their
reflection in textbooks (Gvirtz, 2000). A similar situation
could be found in every country of the region.
It is worth noting at this point that during periods of
dictatorship in the region not only was the policy of
textbook production particularly restricted, but circulation
of some of those already in existence was forbidden by
the military governments who considered them ‘subversive’
or contrary to the regime.
3. The system of supervision
As regards the way to assess the performance of the
system, the model still prevailing in the region is that of
organized control based on a body of inspectors in direct
contact with the teaching personnel in schools. Although
this system has become with time more formal,
bureaucratic and less efficient, it continues to exercise
total control over daily educational activity without any
intermediaries.
TABLE 1. Evolution of illiteracy in Argentina, 1869–1980 (percentage of population over 14 years old)
Year Illiteracy rate Year Illiteracy rate
1869 77.4 1960 8.5
1895 53.3 1970 7.4
1914 35.9 1980 6.1
1947 13.6
Source: Ministry of Justice and Education, 1985.