¿Cumple o no cumple? Lógica de la evaluación del liderazgo de directores escolares en Chile

Felipe Aravena

doi:10.5294/edu.2026.29.1.9

Authors

Felipe Aravena Author Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9142-8349

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5294/edu.2026.29.1.9

Keywords:

Chile, principals, evaluation, improvement, leadership

Abstract

This study seeks to answer the following research questions: What aspects of school principals’ leadership are evaluated in Chile’s public education system? By which results are public school principals assessed in Chile? A documentary analysis with a qualitative-descriptive content approach was conducted on 159 performance agreements prepared by 36 School Holders in two central regions of the country during 2024. The findings reveal that principal evaluation in Chile is complex and still at an early stage, because instead of becoming a tool to support improvement, performance agreements have evolved into an evaluation more focused on administrative efficiency than on the development of pedagogical leadership. The evaluation appears standardized, with quantitative indicators based on standardized test results and internal efficiency measures, turning it into a “checklist” to determine whether or not the principal “complies.” Once again, it is possible to identify an instrument of Chilean public policy that could have potential, but whose (mis)use ends up becoming yet another mechanism that feeds the culture of compliance, performativity, and productivist-mercantile logics.

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