CChanges in school culture and new inequalities: the case of Chile

Abstract

School closures and virtual learning during the pandemic forced stakeholders to interact in unprecedented ways. This article addresses the period from Basil Bernstein's perspective and analyzes it as a process of recontextualizing pedagogical discourses. It describes how the pandemic transformed the curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. A case study was conducted in 18 urban and rural schools in Chile between 2020 and 2021. It shows that, by applying Bernstein's categories, changes were generated in the forms of classification and framing that made the relationships between the content to be taught more flexible, as well as the relationship with families and the assessment processes. Differences are noted between urban and rural schools. In the latter, the tradition of pedagogical practices contributed to a rapid adaptation to the situation. In urban schools, the change rested mainly on the use of new technologies and the more flexible relationship with families. In both cases, there is concern for the emotional well-being of students and a reduction in the curriculum content to be taught.