Claudia Diaz-Rios

This paper presents the results of a systematic literature review on how the state has been explicitly and implicitly conceived in research on K–12 education policy in Latin America. Based on a review of 177 studies in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, seven general theoretical approaches are identified in research on Latin America that focuses on K–12 education policy and employs the language of “the state.” These approaches are labeled political economy, policy process, governance, institutionalism, poststructuralism, post-/decoloniality, and historical accounts. In addition to delineating the characteristics of these seven general approaches, this paper also identifies how each approach conceptualizes the state, or does not, as well as the implications of these approaches for how “the state” and other actors can purposefully act to guide education systems toward particular ends. The discussion section considers the consequences of the fact that the studies in the sample vary not only in terms of the explicitness of their theoretical approach, but also in terms of clarity around the nature of the state. The concluding section comments on the value of combining various theoretical perspectives for understanding the relationship between states and K–12 education policy in Latin America.

Como principal país receptor de migrantes venezolanos, Colombia ha incorporado a más de 600 mil niños, niñas y adolescentes venezolanos (NNA) en su sistema de educación pública. Si bien la mayoría de las escuelas se limita a garantizar el acceso, algunas también promueven el sentido de pertenencia y el aprendizaje académico inclusivo. Este estudio se pregunta: ¿qué explica la variabilidad en las respuestas escolares hacia los NNA migrantes y cómo algunas escuelas logran avanzar en su inclusión más allá del acceso? A partir de la teoría de la construcción de sentido, se analizan 15 escuelas públicas en tres jurisdicciones subnacionales mediante un enfoque cualitativo comparativo que combina entrevistas y análisis documental. Los hallazgos muestran que, pese a la escasez de recursos y las limitaciones de los lineamientos de política, algunas escuelas desarrollan prácticas inclusivas sostenidas activadas por la visibilidad de la migración y gracias a las creencias positivas que actores escolares tienen sobre los migrantes, sus experiencias previas de inclusión y liderazgo escolar activo. El estudio aporta evidencia sobre los procesos mediante los cuales las escuelas interpretan e implementan políticas en contextos de crisis, y ofrece implicaciones relevantes para el diseño de políticas educativas más sensibles a la diversidad.

Research on education in emergencies underscores the significant structural obstacles refugee children encounter in accessing education within low- and middle-income countries. However, there remains a notable gap in understanding the challenges confronted by transnational migrant children and the evolving nature of these challenges amidst shifting migration dynamics. To address this gap, we conducted a scoping literature review of 144 articles written in Spanish, Portuguese, and English examining transnational migration and education in Latin America, a region undergoing profound shifts in immigration patterns. Our analysis reveals that changes in these patterns activate new challenges for education rights. As migrants gradually relocated to other Latin American countries, their children encountered barriers to education compounded by instances of assimilation and discrimination within schools. With migration waves intensifying, discrimination evolves, influenced by governance structures fostering diversity but enabling physical segregation and ongoing marginalization of migrant children. These findings anticipate challenges in implementing current policy recommendations for integrating refugees and other groups of children on the move into the regular education systems of Global South countries.

Más que un libro, esta recopilación de textos teóricos es un ejercicio de reflexión alrededor del concepto de juventud a nivel social, cultural y político en Latinoamérica. La lectura de este libro propone un diálogo intergeneracional entre académicos especializados y otros investigadores jóvenes en formación que navegan a través de la crítica, el pensamiento historicista, el análisis sociológico, la literatura y la crónica. Se busca analizar este concepto desde distintas variantes, poniendo el foco en nuestro territorio y en las universidades. Catorces textos inéditos se intercalan con seis entrevistas a jóvenes innovadores latinoamericanos. Una pieza en construcción de nuestra historia

What happens when influential international organizations change their beliefs about policy? Do they effectively transfer their learning? This paper answers these questions through a comparative historical analysis of the influence of the World Bank on secondary education policy in Colombia. Although the World Bank radically changed its ideas about secondary education and actively disseminated them in Colombia by reshaping its lending priorities and technical assistance, domestic increasing returns of previous foreign recommendations prevented the adoption of new World Bank’s lessons. This study shows that the influence of international organizations is substantially shaped by domestic politics.

Educational public-private partnerships (EPPPs) promise to increase education access and quality in developing countries, provided they have an adequate design that restricts the distribution of subsidies including targeted programs, centralized controlled enrolment, and accountability. This study investigates the effects of publicly subsidized private schools (PSPS) in Colombia—a type of EPPP program that follows all of these recommendations. We use propensity score and regression techniques to identify PSPS effects on student achievement, measured by national standardized tests. Our results show that Colombian PSPS serve vulnerable students, who are fairly similar to those attending traditional public schools (TPS). Nevertheless, students at PSPS underperform compared to TPS students. Our conclusion suggests that design restrictions may prevent student selection and self-selection, but do not guarantee quality improvement for disadvantaged students at subsidized schools. We also argue that design restrictions for PSPS may not be enough when private providers are scarce or difficult to attract for serving the most disadvantaged population.

The institutional logics of Western academic research often conflict with the epistemologies and goals of Indigenous peoples. Research sovereignty is a right but still an aspiration for many Indigenous peoples. National funding agencies and Western universities have sought to resolve these conflicts through various institutional and organizational settlements. We combined a systematic literature search with critical content analysis and synthesis to compare the prospect for Indigenous research sovereignty in Australia, Canada, the United States, and New Zealand. Our comparison of the strategies used to resolve conflicts between competing institutional logics highlights the limitations of segmentation and segregation as well as other barriers to truly blended, or reconciled, institutional logics in colonial government and Western university research institutions and organizations.