The inclusion of Chile’s indigenous peoples under scrutiny

A comparative analysis of 21st-century education legislation

Abstract

The Chilean educational system, profoundly shaped by neoliberalism since 1973, is characterized by a tension between education as a social right and its treatment as a commodity. This exploratory case study analyzes how the inclusion of cultural diversity and the role of Indigenous peoples are constructed within the framework of Chilean educational legislation in the twenty-first century, examining the normative evolution from the LOCE (1990) to Law 21.040 (2017).

It is observed that the LOCE (1990) promoted an atomized, monocultural, and assimilationist vision. The Indigenous Law (1993), despite its limited scope, marked a milestone by establishing the National Corporation for Indigenous Development (CONADI), recognizing ethnic groups, and instituting state obligations for cultural and linguistic promotion, including Intercultural Bilingual Education (EIB). This and other subsequent advances, including the General Education Law (2009), were also the result of pressures from social, Indigenous, and student movements.

Chilean legislation evolves from a worldview of a homogeneous nation to one that incorporates ethno-cultural plurality. However, tensions persist between legal recognition and its effective implementation, revealing a path still under construction toward full inclusion and interculturality—one that transcends the limits of neoliberal multiculturalism and enables genuinely symmetrical relationships among cultures, peoples, and forms of knowledge.