Education reform and the discourse of quality in Argentina

JORGE M. GOROSTIAGA; ADRIÁN FERREIRA

Quality and Qualities: Tensions in Education Reforms

Sense Publishers

Lugar: Rotterdam; Año: 2012; p. 23 - 40

In this chapter we analyze the reform of basic education in Argentina in relation to discourses of quality. We focus mainly on the policies on primary and secondary school reform implemented during the last two decades. We argue that the concept of educational quality that has informed the reform can be seen as a combination of elements of the prevailing global discourse --framed mainly by multilateral organizations like the World Bank and regional bodies like the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)-- and of local discourses of quality. The period we analyze (1990 to 2009) saw both shifts and continuity. Even though the current dominant discourse rejects the neo-liberal model of development, the concern for educational quality and its measurement has not disappeared.