Education in Uruguay and Ecuador: an exploration of the framework laws of their educational systems

Abstract

The paper seeks to contribute to the reflection on the educational dimension of the political processes that occurred in Latin America during the first years of the 21st century, based on the study of the educational framework laws of two of its countries, Ecuador and Uruguay. The article offers a comparative work of the General Law No. 18437 of Uruguay, enacted in the year 2008 during the government of Tabaré Vázquez and the Organic Law of Intercultural Education of Ecuador sanctioned in 2011 when Rafael Correa was president. The dialogue between both normative texts is carried out based on some categories of educational policy: aims and meanings of education, role of the State, participation and teaching work. In addition to the critical reading of the laws, the analysis revisits specific bibliography of each national case, as well as theoretical productions on educational policies in the 1990s, in order to contextualize and be able to better dimension the implications of the new. We conclude that it was a period climate in the region that enabled new legislation that sought to reposition the state and deepen the scope of the right to education, while distancing itself from previous neoliberal processes.