The decree specifies written examinations in each course at the end of each trimester and final examinations, which are both written and oral. Pupils may be exempted from oral examinations if their marks average at least "4." No pupil is to fail without having submitted to an oral examination.

Final examinations in each course are prepared according to instructions given by the Directorate of Secondary Education. Teachers from public schools serve on examining commissions for pupils in private schools, a procedure by which considerable control is exercised over private education. The decree further specifies the procedures for personality evaluation of pupils.

To be promoted to the next grade, a pupil must have an average of “4” in all of his subjects or if he has failed one subject an average of "4.5" in the remaining subjects. Repeat examinations are authorized. If a pupil does not meet the required average, he repeats the entire year, not just the courses in which his grades were unsatisfactory.

Experimental Secondary Schools

The Chilean secondary school has been traditionally intellectual and academic. Its curriculum and its administration have lacked flexibility. Leading educators have voiced the following criticisms: 8

The secondary school's emphasis on university preparation is valid for only a few pupils.

The secondary school dedicates itself to imparting content to pupils rather than to preparing them to solve the problems of life.

It does not satisfy the pupil's needs and interests, nor does it attend to to his complete development.

The program's rigidity ignores individual differences.

● Instruction is restricted to the classroom and the authority of the teacher. ● Methods of instruction are predominantly passive.

The secondary school ignores personal, socioeconomic, and pedagogical problems.

It does not offer sufficient opportunity for teachers to participate in the study of pedagogical problems.

Since 1932, when the first experimental school, Liceo Manuel de Salas was established as a dependency of the University of Chile, a concerted effort has been made to bring needed reforms to the secondary school. Experimental schools have been the laboratories to test out new ideas which could then be incorporated into the educational program on a wider scale if they proved beneficial. These experi

Universidad de Chile, Instituto de Educación. Año Pedagógico 1960.

p. 122.

mental schools have operated under three different auspices since 1946: "

1. La Comisión de Renovación Gradual de la Educación Secundaria (194649), headed by Dr. Irma Salas.

2. La Sección de Experimentación Educacional (1949–53). A dependency of the Directorate of Secondary Education, this organization was created by reorganizing the Comisión identified just above.

3. La Sección de Perfeccionamiento y Experimentación (since 1953), a dependency of the Departmento Pedagógico of the Directorate of Secondary Education. From 1953 to 1957 Dr. Irma Salas served as the department's head, one of the many responsible positions which have distinguished her as a leader in Chile's educational reform movement.

The reform of secondary education was intended to be slow and gradual. Innovations were to come only after thorough trial in experimental schools, after which it was hoped they would be incorporated in all the liceos of the country. By 1952 only seven liceos had been transformed in accordance with the new pedagogical ideas. The rest continued along traditional lines.10 Seven experimental schools were operating in 1960.11

Although any large-scale reform of secondary education could expect intense opposition, the experimental schools made numerous contributions that were later incorporated generally into the liceos,12 Among these contributions were the following:

13

● Advisories (consejos de cursos) in all the liceos.13 Guidance services.

● A differentiated plan of studies in the second cycle (the last 3 years). ● A variable plan (plan variable) in the first cycle.

Reoriented student activities.

Personality evaluation and more objective evaluation standards than formerly.

● Subject-matter departments (departmentos de asignatoras) and other technical improvements in the common liceo.

Possibly the most extensive experimental plan currently in operation is the Plan de Integración Educacional de Arica, a 10-year project begun in the Department of Arica during 1961 under the general direction of the Superintendency of Public Education.14 This plan, shown in figure 8, embraces all levels of the school system, but the changes proposed at the secondary level are particularly far-reaching. According to the Plan de Arica, secondary education is divided into two cycles:

Ibid., p. 125.

19 Ibid., p. 139.

11 Ibid.

12 Ibid.

13 The advisories serve as a basis for student government.

14 Ministerio de Educación Pública, Superintendencia de Educación Pública. Plan de Integracion Educacional.

1. A common cycle of 3 years, which continues the general education of the elementary school.

2. A differentiated cycle of 3 years corresponding to grades 10, 11, and 12. For this cycle, secondary education is offered in the following types of schools (colegios): Colegio Agricola, Colegio Comercial, Colegio de Humanidades, Colegio Tecnológico Feminino, Colegio Tecnológico Masculino, and others in accordance with regional needs.

Figure 8.-Experimental Reorganization of the Educational SystemPlande Arica: 1961-71

SOURCE: Ministerio de Educación Pública, Superintendencia de Educación Pública.

The Plan de Arica is based on several well-defined principles. (1) It attempts to unify the first 9 years of general education, thereby bridging the gap between the elementary and the secondary school. (2) It postpones the time for pupils to make a vocational decision until they have completed the first 3-year cycle of secondary school. During that cycle pupils receive extensive opportunities to explore various vocational fields while receiving the necessary guidance in making wise vocational choices. (3) The plan attempts to combat the serious problem of school desertion by encouraging pupils to remain in school longer and, if that is not possible, by providing work-training courses for those who drop out in the upper elementary school. (4) The plan proposes a new concept in the integration of educational services adapted to the needs of a region and thereby responds to the frequent criticism of administrative inflexibility and lack of coordination between levels and types of schools.

The five separate plans of studies for the common secondary school under the Plan de Arica show considerable variation from the prevailing curriculum already discussed. These plans and the amount of time they devote weekly to each subject are shown below: 15

? In grade 9 the schedule is so arranged that pupils may spend a double session (2 half-days) in the type of shop for which they have shown greatest aptitude.

• One morning or afternoon per week.

No information was available at the time the present study was completed concerning the plan of studies for differentiated secondary schools (grades 10, 11, and 12), which were to begin functioning in

1964.

Criticisms and Deficiencies

Experimental schools have tried to alleviate many of the criticisms directed at the liceo, but their success in effecting any comprehensive reforms has not been great. The humanidades curriculum of the liceo continues to be traditional, intellectual, and academic. The main function of the liceo is still primarily university preparatory, although leading Chilean educators continue to repudiate the idea of such a narrow function. Enrollment growth in the liceo has been substantial, and many of the new enrollees come from the class of unskilled work

ers.

The 19th-century view that higher education should be a training ground for an exclusive élite is under bitter attack. The 20th-century view that the secondary school should provide the educated personnel required by a modern, democratic, industrialized society has not been fully accepted. The liceo seems to be caught in the conflict between these two points of view: one repudiated in theory and the other not fully accepted in practice. The result of this conflict has been a kind of stagnation, which has caused many critics to cite the liceo as the least progressive and most criticized part of the educational structure.

It is difficult to generalize about the content and quality of Chilean general secondary education because it is offered in such a variety of institutions, both public and private. Like schools at other levels of the school system, secondary schools suffer from insufficient and poorly equipped buildings, a grossly inadequate supervisory structure, poorly prepared teachers, a paucity of educational materials, obsolete methods