ADULT EDUCATION IN CHILE: PERCEPTIONS AND ASSESSMENTS OF ITS BENEFICIARIES

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to analyze the perceptions and assessments of the beneficiaries of the main modality of adult education in Chile with regard to their educational experience. The study is based on an analytical empirical approach, and non-experimental design. A quantitative representative sample was obtained by clusters of schools in Santiago de Chile and allowed to survey 252 individuals attending the regular modality. The qualitative sample considered 30 students who were approached through structured interviews. The results confirm that this population comes from lower socioeconomic groups, with a history of repeated academic failure, but also support the conclusion that the representation of school failure is associated with individual performances rather than contextual factors. School failure is presented as an act of personal irresponsibility, even though the antecedents show it is a multicausal phenomenon, where external and internal factors intervene in the school system.