Abstract

Teacher education is now being discussed in Chile’s educational policy arena as a strategic factor for achieving a better quality of education. Contradictory forces impact on the institutions providing it: on the one hand, there is a strongly critical view based on the poor results obtained by Teacher Education students finishing their career; at the same time there is an unprecedented growth in enrolments and number of careers offered. The paper identifies these in terms of the contradictory pressures of market and public policy’s forces. Within this analytical framework, the work aims to identify key features underlying the evolution of initial teacher education institutions as well as to identify the transformation of ideas and change proposals in the sector, as well as their relations with implemented public policies. The article concludes with considerations regarding some fundamental policy options intended to developing education at the end of 2010, by comparing national regulations and international evidence.