PTU: The test to select students in higher education who “cannot correct a basic inequity”
Education 2020 and the students themselves coincide in a diagnosis that speaks of a gap that continues to widen, even less in a year that was marked by school absenteeism in the lower strata, which was also reflected in the number of enrolled by the Transition Test.
Coyhaique-. Between January 4 and 8, 2021, the University Transition Test (PTU) was given which, unlike the PSU, adjusted its syllabi and reduced questions and the weighting for admission to higher education in the country, opening the possibility of measure competences and not just knowledge.
Although it is true for some it is an advance in terms of equity of access to tertiary education in Chile, it continues to maintain the vices of the previous versions of the Academic Aptitude Test (PAA) and the University Selection Test (PSU).
Inequality of origin
For Alejandra Arratia, executive director of Education 2020, “it is important to make a distinction in terms of which of the gap is attributable to the characteristics of the educational system itself and that it has to do with the test, which is related to the composition of the test and in that sense it is important to make the distinction, because the test cannot correct an inequity of origin. What it can do, and it is important to advance in that line, is to avoid any type of bias that tends to reproduce that type of structural inequity that our educational system has ”.
And in this line, he assures that it is necessary to “move forward so that it does not have a bias from a socioeconomic perspective, from dependence on educational establishments or gender, which is also a bias that the tests have had.”
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Alejandra Arratia, Executive Director of Education 2020 |
On January 4, a group of high school students took over the offices of the Ministry of Education in the heart of Alameda de Santiago, to demand universal and free access to higher education.
Catalina Garay, spokesperson for the Secondary Students Coordinating Assembly (ACES Chile), stated on the occasion that “the takeover was because the government never took over the political and educational responsibilities it has. They were telling us that there was no infrastructure or resources, even so, there is a budget to deploy the Carabineros and militarize the establishments. There are no minimum conditions to carry out this test, we are in a pandemic where infections are on the rise, there was no educational material, there were no connectivity conditions or minimum tools for teachers to carry out online classes “.
Along the same lines, Marcos Faure, also a spokesperson for ACES, stressed that “from the Assembly we want universal and free access to higher education, through a preparatory and a baccalaureate, which allows to level studies, prepare and help explore the vocations of each of the students so that they can effectively enter the career they want and that this is the only requirement to enter tertiary education ”.
Gap in access to education
Faure added that “this Government insists on perpetuating market education in our country, because it is the bastion that the model has to sustain itself, because education is a transformative tool and that is why this Government does not want to change it and neither does it test , which maintains the model. They do not invest in education or technological development, but rather invest in repression, in companies, it has a lot to do with the type of country we are building and the priorities for the future, more investment and greater control are needed ”.
On the other hand, the leader asserted that “we cannot advance with the levels of impunity that we have, where we know that justice works more for the rich than for the poor, such as access to college”. And he exemplified what happened after the Covid-19 pandemic and the great damage that it means for the most modest families in the country, without access to the internet or mobile devices that allow studying.
“You can analyze certain characteristics that allow you to assess inequity. One piece of information that we already have is how much the percentage of students enrolled due to dependence on educational establishments decreased. The drop in paid private schools was very low, around 5% and in public schools more than 15% “, added Alejandra Arratia from Education 2020.
It remains to be seen what the difference in scores will be between the students who registered and took the test, once the results are known on February 11.
“It is important to emphasize that the university selection test, or transition, are not comparable year to year, the results are normalized each year, therefore they do not allow comparison, which is a characteristic that SIMCE has, that it is of another type and that it seeks to evaluate the quality of education, while this is a test to select students for higher education ”, clarified the executive director of Education 2020, a civil society organization that aims to ensure quality, equitable and inclusive education, understanding that it is the cornerstone in the development and progress of democratic societies.
In this way, the particular year 2020 carried out two surveys to measure and know the differences, biases and gaps that were generated from the online classes and the detention of the year of face-to-face education last April.
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The #EstamosConectados survey was applied to the educational community to measure emotional well-being in a pandemic and access to technology and tools that were raised through virtual platforms to educate children and young people.
In this sense, the results of #EstamosConectados indicate that half of the students report having occasional or no availability to a computer, which is explained because many times a device must be used by the whole family.
“Notwithstanding the foregoing, it seems that the mobile or cell phone is the most used tool. According to the results of the #EstamosConectados survey, the participating girls, boys and young people (NNJ) indicate that the most accessible tool they have is a cell phone with an internet connection. The results of the Simce TIC 2013 confirm this, since 91% of second-year students declare that they have their own cell phone ”, says part of the Education 2020 study.
Likewise, 80% of the students who answered this question state that they do not have an atmosphere of concentration.
Regional reality
In Aysén, the last PSU that surrendered at the end of 2019 and part of 2020 yielded better results than the previous version, being one of the regions in which the average rose significantly, between 10 and 20 points. However, the gaps between subsidized individuals and municipalities remain. “The conditions are not there. The gaps remain in the face of the test and those that are added, such as those experienced by rural students in this region, who come from locations with poor internet access, ”said Julia Arana, representative of Secondary United for the Defense of the Territory.
“We must re-found the system with a free, quality, non-sexist education, that there are no first and second category students, give it a decentralized approach, because there are different realities in the country, in Aysén it is not the same as Santiago.”
For example, the national educational cards (TNE) “have no reason to exist, because the locomotion does not accept it and it has no logic in Aysén.”
Finally, it is worth mentioning that we contacted on several occasions with the Aysén Education Seremi, headed by Sergio Becerra, to have access to additional data and his vision on this subject, but until the closing of this note we were unable to have such a source.
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