Education as a dimension of human development: A Provincial-level Education Index for Ecuador

2. Ecuador in the context of Latin American and Caribbean education policies Most of the education policy reforms that have been implemented in LAC countries in recent decades have revolved around three axes [48–51]: (i) institutional reforms aimed at causing changes in the management and functioning of the education system, promoting decentraliza- tion in decision-making, granting more autonomy to schools, and encouraging local and fam- ily participation in educational activities; (ii) improvements in quality and equity,–mainly in schools and social sectors with lower incomes and academic performance–, through free text- books, school materials and uniforms, investments in school infrastructure and teaching mate- rials, and improvements in teacher qualification and training, and (iii) new funding sources aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public spending on education: educa- tion vouchers, special funds for the allocation of resources based on academic achievement and/or the number of students enrolled, and grants for children coming from vulnerable fami- lies with scarce socioeconomic resources. Despite the efforts made, diagnoses of the educational situation in the region show that there are still problems that need to be solved in terms of quality, equity, and efficiency. Although decentralization has improved educational coverage and allowed greater participa- tion of parents and local communities in the functioning of school life, learning outcomes are much less encouraging [48, 50, 52]. These shortcomings may lie behind the absence of

accountability policies and standards-based reforms, which introduce elements that have tra- ditionally existed in other education systems–such as school inspection and external evalua- tion of learning outcomes, from which guidelines for school improvement can be derived–, especially in Europe and North America [53]. Although these processes have been in place for years in some LAC countries, such as Colombia and Chile [54, 55], the lack of reliable information and appropriate indicators has limited their widespread incorporation. To this should be added the consequences associated with the procedures that aim to achieve higher quality in teaching by assigning rewards and sanctions based on individual performance. However, given the large differences in educa- tional resources and in student composition (different ethnicities) between schools (rural vs. urban), as well as the complex nature of the educational process itself, it is very difficult to determine the net effect in each case. Therefore, rewards and sanctions can often be unfair, affecting not only the equity but also the productivity of the mechanism itself [56]. Neverthe- less, many of the education reforms that have been implemented in the region in recent years have moved in this direction. Ecuador’s educational problems are no different from those of other LAC countries, with high repetition and dropout rates as two characteristics of the education systems in the region [56, 57]. Also, poor academic achievement should be added to these phenomena [40–42].

These problems were behind the successive educational reforms implemented by Ecuador in recent decades. Among them, the 1983 Ley Orgánica de Educación (Education Act, or LOE) [58] should be highlighted. This Act, together with the Reglamento General de la Ley Orgánica de Educación (General Rules of the Education Act) in 1985 [59], set out the structure of the non-university education (S1 Table). In the belief that education is one of the most effective means of preventing hereditary pov- erty, the Ecuadorian government designed and promoted the first Plan Decenal de Educación (Ten-Year Education Plan) 2006–2015. The reforms stemming from the Ten-Year Education Plan were first conducted in 2009, modifying the levels of general basic education and, subse- quently in 2011, with the first curricular reform of the general unified Baccalaureate. These reforms were consolidated through the approval of the Ley Orgánica de Educación Intercultural PLOS ONE Education as a dimension of Human development PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270932 July 8, 2022 4 / 27