Having achieved the coverage challenges following compulsory policies and a financing system via demand subsidy conditioned to enrollment and attendance, but faced with the scenario of school segregation, Chile has set itself the goal of advancing towards the right to an inclusive education and of quality. In this article we identify and analyze three critical nodes that affect the possibilities of achieving this goal: a) a tension between the logic of integration and educational inclusion, b) a market-based model that does not consider public values, and c) a new educational architecture, based on the logic of individual accountability, which places the possibility of educational improvement in individual incentive systems tied to the achievement of high performance tests. We discuss the need to address and unlock these nodes through transdisciplinary research.

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School achievement gaps and school failure are problematic issues in Latin America, and are mainly explained by the socio-economic status (SES) of the students. What schools can do to improve school achievement and reduce school failure is a critical issue, both for school management and teacher training. In this study, we present the association of individual and school-related socio-emotional variables with school achievement and performance, controlling for the effects of SES. A probabilistic sample of 4,964 students, drawn from 191 schools enrolled in year 10 in urban areas of Chile, answered questionnaires assessing subjective wellbeing, social wellbeing in school, school climate, school social wellbeing and students’ perceptions of teachers’ wellbeing. Using structural equation modeling, and controlling for SES, we modeled subjective wellbeing as a mediator of the relationship between school-related variables, such as school climate and perception of teacher’s wellbeing, and (a) school achievement, and (b) school performance. School achievement was computed as a product of (a) the probability of passing the school year, and (b) the percentage of yearly attendance at school. Data on school achievement was drawn from administrative registries from the Chilean Ministry of Education. School performance was computed as the estimated grade point average (GPA) at the end of the school year, based on the students’ previous 5-year GPAs, and was also obtained through administrative data of the last 5 years. Findings reveal the mediating role of subjective wellbeing in the relationship between school-related evaluations (students’ social wellbeing at school, their perception of teachers’ wellbeing and school climate) and school achievement. For school achievement, two variables were mediated (students’ social wellbeing at school and school climate). However, for school performance, no significant mediations were found. We conclude that, on the one hand, after controlling for SES, students’ individual subjective wellbeing is associated with their achievement and performance in school. We discuss the importance of improving school experiences that may protect and promote students’ subjective experience and school achievement and performance, and reduce the probability of school failure and dropout.

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Do gifted students adjust poorly to their social environment? There are currently two competing positions: one that sustains that giftedness is by itself a risk factor for social adaptation, and another that holds that high cognitive abilities involve distinctive features that are protective and hence increase individual resilience. Empirical support has been provided for both positions. This paper provides data from a study performed with 50 Spanish-speaking gifted children and adolescents using a comparison group of 50 average-ability peers matched by sex and chronological age. The results show no significant differences between gifted students and their peers on global measures of adjustment. Instead, they suggest that gifted students are neither significantly more poorly nor better adjusted than their peers during different age periods. Our analysis of the results provides moderate support for the resilience position.

La violencia entre pares afecta negativamente la salud mental de los estudiantes. La literatura señala que la satisfacción con la vida es uno de los factores que puede verse mayormente afectado. No obstante, pueden existir factores que atenúen estos efectos negativos. La presente investigación indagó en la influencia que tiene el apoyo de profesores y pares en la escuela sobre la satisfacción con la vida en estudiantes que reportan agresiones de sus pares. El estudio censal incluyó a 5.527 estudiantes de 4° a 8° grado de educación básica de 44 establecimientos municipales de una comuna de la Región de Valparaíso, Chile. Usando cuestionarios autoaplicados de la encuesta "La Convivencia en mi Escuela", cuyos datos se analizaron usando modelos de ecuaciones estructurales, se encontró que el apoyo social de los profesores tiene un efecto más importante que el de los pares como mediador en la relación inversa entre victimización entre pares y satisfacción con la vida de los estudiantes. Estos hallazgos son discutidos respecto del papel mediador de los profesores en la victimización entre pares.Palabras clave: victimización, satisfacción vital, apoyo social, bienestar, bullying Violence among peers has a negative effect on students' mental health. The literature indicates that life satisfaction is one of the factors on which peer violence could have a major effect. Nevertheless, some factors may attenuate this negative impact. This study analyzed the influence of teacher and peer support on the relation between students' peer victimization and life satisfaction. The sample included 5,527 students from grades 4 through 8 attending municipal schools in one district of the Region of Valparaíso, Chile. Using self-report questionnaires taken from the survey "Coexistence in my School", whose data was analyzed with structural equation modeling, it was observed that teacher social support has a greater effect than peer social support as a mediator in the inverse relationship between students' peer victimization and life satisfaction. These findings are discussed in terms of the mediating role of teachers in reducing the effects of peer victimization. La correspondencia relativa a este artículo debe ser dirigida a Boris Villalobos-Parada, PACES, Keywords

Over the past 15 years, Chile has implemented three different educational laws and policies to enhance, promote and develop school climate (SC). However, different logics of understanding and intervening in SC underlie these legal bodies. In order to account for the contradictions and critical nodes of instruments that conform Chile´s SC public policy, we performed a documentary analysis of laws and other key documents. Using content analyses, we identified four critical nodes: contradiction between declaration and measurement of quality of education; explicit arrangements for institutional sanctions, which contrasts with ambiguity about institutional supports; contradictory understandings about SC; and differential treatment for public and private schools. We discuss the possibilities of promoting a democratic SC in a policy environment that is highly oriented by accountability.

Although most of the school violence literature is focused on peer victimization, interest is growing in teachers being victimized by their students. However, there is far less interest in students being victimized by their teachers, patterns of mutual victimization, and how they are associated with other school factors. Using the conceptual framework of school violence in evolving contexts, the present study examined teacher-to-student victimization in Chile and tested, for the first time, the associations of student-to-teacher victimization, peer victimization, school safety, classroom climate, and school climate at the individual and school levels. The sample consisted of 50,344 students (51.6% female) in Grades 5–8 in 431 schools in Chilean public-funded schools. Findings indicated that verbal types of teacher-student mutual victimization were more prevalent than physical and sexual victimization. Teacher-to-student victimization was higher among male and younger students. Multilevel analyses showed that student-to-teacher victimization, school safety, classroom climate, and school climate were associated with teacher-to-student victimization. We discuss the need for whole-school approaches that enhance social and academic support from teachers to reduce mutual forms of victimization and suggest a public health approach that places the school in the center.