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.

Habiendo logrado los desafíos de cobertura tras políticas de obligatoriedad y un sistema de financiamiento vía subvención a la demanda condicionada a la matrícula y asistencia, pero enfrentado al escenario de la segregación escolar, Chile ha decidido abrazar el sueño de una educación inclusiva y de calidad. En este artículo identificamos y analizamos tres nudos críticos que afectan las posibilidades de movilizarse hacia una educación inclusiva de calidad: a) una tensión entre la lógica de la integración e inclusión educativa, b) un modelo basado en el mercado que no considera los valores públicos, y c) una nueva arquitectura educacional, basada en la lógica de la rendición de cuentas individual, que coloca la posibilidad de mejoramiento educativo en sistemas de incentivos individuales atados al logro de pruebas de alto rendimiento. Discutimos la necesidad de abordar y destrabar estos nudos desde la investigación transdisciplinaria.

In the quest to improve education, the Ministry of Education of Chile (Mineduc) has promoted during the last years, a series of reforms that directly or indirectly affect the work of school principals. In light of the principles of the New Public Management (NPM) and, using a documentary analysis, this article studies the evolution of the role of director in the public policies of the last 40 years. The results reveal: 1) that all the characteristic elements of the NPM (individual work, competence, orientation to meet indicators, short-term plans) are present in the policies, which implicate a managerial role of the school director. 2) That during the past 3 years, policies have been dictated away from the principles of the NPM that generate a new role for the director, that of the instructional leader. 3) That one role does not evolve into the other, but rather both coexist in schools, generating a possible tension that the director must resolve. The real feasibility of school principals to exercise their role as an instructional leader oriented to the collaborative construction of trust and abilities in the school is discussed, in a scenario marked by a long history of policies that favor individual work with indicators that must be met in the short term, principles that are specific to the NPM, and are more related to the work of a company manager.

El clima escolar se asocia positivamente al rendimiento escolar y negativamente a la violencia escolar. Sin embargo, aún es necesario contar con instrumentos validados para la población de estudiantes latinoamericanos, que puedan entrar en diálogo con la investigación internacional y transcultural. En este estudio presentamos los resultados de la validación de la Escala de Clima Escolar. El instrumento se tradujo al español y se validó con una muestra de 4762 estudiantes chilenos. Los resultados muestran adecuadas propiedades psicométricas de la escala que permiten su uso para fines de investigación e intervención.