Abstract

This article examines the division within Chile’s main teacher organisation caused by a dissident movement during the development of the new National Teaching Policy (PND), which occurred between the years 2014 and 2016. It focuses on the teachers’ collective awakening and the internal logic of neoliberal teacher policies. Through interviews and policy analysis, the study concludes that the dissident teacher movement has made visible the exclusion of teachers’ experiences in PND discussions, undermining the so-called consensus on teacher professional development. However, while we argue that these findings illustrate the importance of teachers’ unions as policy actors, we also suggest that this latter role is limited if they do not develop, in addition to the necessary critique, a shared political-pedagogical project. © 2024 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.