Chile’s General Education Law (Ley General de Educación) Explained: What the Country’s Education System Is Built On
- Rodrigo Espinoza
- May 17
- 8 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
Enacted in 2009 during the first presidency of Michelle Bachelet, Chile’s Ley General de Educación (General Education Law) is the backbone of the country’s school system. It holds together and gives shape to the many components that make up Chilean education. This law defines core principles, recognizes rights, assigns responsibilities, and outlines the structure of the entire system.
Although its scope is broad and its language often technical, understanding the Ley General de Educación is essential to making sense of how education works in Chile today. That’s why at Aula Chilensis, we’ve chosen to organize this guide thematically, rather than following the article-by-article format of the legal text. Our aim is to offer a clearer and more accessible understanding of the legal framework that shapes the everyday life of schools across the country.
This post is part of our special series on Chile’s education system, where we explore the key laws, institutions, and ideas shaping how schools operate.
Table of Contents
How Chile’s Education Law Defines What It Means to Educate
If we think of the Ley General de Educación as the backbone of Chile’s school system, then its marrow lies in the law’s opening definitions: what education is, and the principles that guide it. This is where the deeper meaning of the system is expressed: what does it mean to educate in Chile?
According to Article 2, the LGE defines education as:
“el proceso de aprendizaje permanente que abarca las distintas etapas de la vida de las personas y que tiene como finalidad alcanzar su desarrollo espiritual, ético, moral, afectivo, intelectual, artístico y físico.”
This understanding of education goes beyond academic achievement. It embraces multiple dimensions of human development and conceives learning as a vital process that extends beyond the classroom. To educate, in this sense, is to shape the person as a whole.
From this definition emerge twelve guiding principles that apply to all educational practices, public and private. These are not decorative statements: enshrined in law, they act as structural pillars for pedagogical, curricular, and administrative decisions.
Article 3 outlines these principles as: universality and lifelong learning, quality, equity, autonomy, diversity, responsibility, participation, flexibility, transparency, integration, sustainability, and interculturalism. Here, we’ve listed only their names. If you’d like to read their full legal formulation, you can download the PDF we prepared for you.
These principles come together to form a coherent framework aimed at the full development of every person. At Aula Chilensis, we believe this part of the law is especially important—not just for its technical value, but because it reflects the kind of education we want to build. Everything else follows from here.
The Right to Education in Chile’s General Education Law
One of the core ideas behind the Ley General de Educación is that Chile’s school system must be structured in line with the Constitution and the fundamental rights it protects. That might sound like legal formalism, but it actually carries significant weight: the LGE serves as the legal instrument that gives shape to the constitutional right to education, established in Article 19, paragraph 10.
This is clearly stated in Article 3 of the law:
“El sistema educativo chileno se construye sobre la base de los derechos garantizados en la Constitución, así como en los tratados internacionales ratificados por Chile y que se encuentren vigentes y, en especial, del derecho a la educación y la libertad de enseñanza.”
In other words, the Ley General de Educación doesn’t just organize how schools work—it takes a constitutional guarantee and turns it into a functioning reality. It lays out the principles, roles, and institutional responsibilities needed to make that right tangible in everyday school life.
Who Makes Up the Education System—and What’s Expected of Them
Before outlining structures and procedures, the Ley General de Educación takes a step back and defines who participates in the educational process—and what’s expected of them. Article 9 introduces the idea of the educational community as:
“una agrupación de personas que inspiradas en un propósito común integran una institución educativa. Ese objetivo común es contribuir a la formación y el logro de aprendizajes de todos los alumnos que son miembros de ésta, propendiendo a asegurar su pleno desarrollo espiritual, ético, moral, afectivo, intelectual, artístico y físico.”
Article 10 then identifies the main actors: students, families, teachers, support staff, school leadership, and education providers. It also sets out their rights and responsibilities:
Students are entitled to a well-rounded education and to take part in school life. They’re also expected to follow the rules and take responsibility for their learning.
Families are recognized as the first educators of their children. They have the right to choose their child’s school and are encouraged to engage actively in school communities.
Teachers are seen as essential figures, with professional autonomy and a duty to teach ethically and responsibly. The role of teachers is further developed in the Estatuto Docente (Teacher Statute), which sets out their professional rights, responsibilities, and career paths within Chile’s school system.
School leaders and education providers are expected to foster inclusive and respectful learning environments.
This isn’t just legal formality. By defining roles and expectations, the law sends a clear message: education is a collective effort. It requires more than policy or infrastructure—it depends on the commitment of everyone involved.
What the State Must Guarantee in Public Education
This is one of the longest—and most visible—sections of the Ley General de Educación. Throughout several articles, the law outlines what the Chilean State is expected to do to uphold the right to education and ensure that the school system works as it should.
Starting in Article 4, the LGE lays out a series of responsibilities. Among the most important are:
Protecting the right of families to educate their children.
Promoting early childhood education and ensuring free access where it’s compulsory.
Funding a free system that guarantees access to primary and secondary education.
Providing quality education and fostering inclusion.
Supporting policies that recognize Indigenous cultures.
Safeguarding the rights of students and their families.
Publishing accessible information on quality, coverage, and equity in the system.
The law also makes it clear that guaranteeing quality isn’t just an abstract goal—it requires institutions. That’s why it creates the National Quality Assurance System, which we’ll look at in more detail later on.
So the LGE isn’t just about principles on paper. It gives the State a concrete mandate: to act as guarantor, provider, and regulator of a public education system built on equity, relevance, and collective responsibility.
The Levels and Learning Pathways Recognized by Law
Once the principles, rights, and responsibilities are established, the Ley General de Educación moves on to describe how Chile’s school system is structured. That structure reflects both stages of human development and the diversity of students’ learning paths.
Article 17 states:
“La educación formal o regular está organizada en cuatro niveles: parvularia, básica, media y superior, y por modalidades educativas dirigidas a atender a poblaciones específicas.”
Articles 18 to 21 offer a brief description of each level—early childhood, primary, secondary, and higher education—explaining their role and place within the broader educational journey.
Then, in Article 22, the law introduces educational modalities: flexible formats designed to meet the needs of different groups. These include special education, adult education, and other approaches tailored to support inclusion and access.
By combining defined levels with adaptable modalities, the law lays the foundation for a system that’s continuous, inclusive, and responsive to the realities of Chilean society.
What Students Are Expected to Learn at Each Stage of School
This is one of the most important sections of the Ley General de Educación, as it sets out the general learning objectives for each level of the school system: early childhood, primary, and secondary education. These objectives matter because they’re the starting point for the entire national curriculum—everything from the Bases Curriculares to lesson plans, teaching programs, and assessments flows from here.
Articles 28, 29, and 30 outline the goals of each level. While each one has its own emphasis, they all share a common purpose: to support the well-rounded development of students—not just cognitively, but also in ethical, emotional, artistic, and physical dimensions.
Put simply:
Early childhood education encourages foundational learning in the early years.
Primary education provides a broad and gradual base.
Secondary education builds on that base and prepares students for civic life, further studies, or entry into the workforce.
These goals aren’t just aspirational—they shape what learning actually looks like in schools across Chile, every single day.
From Goals to Curriculum: How Learning Content Is Built
This is one of the most detailed sections of the Ley General de Educación, and it deals with a key part of the system: the process for developing the Bases Curriculares, which guide teaching across all levels of schooling. At this point, the law moves beyond general definitions and begins to lay out how educational goals are put into practice.
The LGE tasks the Ministry of Education with drafting a proposal for the Bases Curriculares at each level. This proposal must reflect core principles such as diversity, inclusion, equity, and quality. Once completed, it is reviewed and approved by the National Education Council, an autonomous technical body created by the same law.
By describing this process in such detail, the law ensures that the curriculum has a solid, legitimate, and coherent foundation, aligned with the broader principles of the system. This is where the LGE stops being just a legal framework—and starts shaping what actually happens in the classroom.
What It Takes for a School to Be Officially Recognized
The Ley General de Educación also outlines the requirements a school must meet to receive official recognition from the State. While this is an important part of the law, we won’t go into full detail here, as the process is beyond the scope of this article.
To give an idea, Article 45 states:
“El reconocimiento oficial del Estado es el acto administrativo en virtud del cual la autoridad confiere a un establecimiento educacional la facultad de certificar válida y autónomamente la aprobación de cada uno de los ciclos y niveles que conforman la educación regular, y de ejercer los demás derechos que le confiere la ley.”
Put simply, official recognition doesn’t just allow a school to access public funding—it gives legal validity to students’ educational progress. Without it, a school can’t fully participate in the formal education system.
Chile’s System for Ensuring Educational Quality
One of the reasons the Ley General de Educación is so widely recognized is that it established the National Quality Assurance System for School Education. This system is meant to evaluate and oversee how schools function, ensuring that principles like quality, equity, and inclusion are actually reflected in practice.
It brings together four public institutions that work in coordination: the Ministry of Education, the Education Quality Agency, the Superintendency of Education, and the National Education Council. Each has a distinct role, but they are designed to complement one another.
The Education Quality Agency, created through this law, is responsible for evaluating learning outcomes, institutional processes, and school context. The Superintendency of Education, also established by the LGE, monitors legal compliance and protects the rights of school communities. The Ministry of Education sets education policy and provides technical and pedagogical support.
Finally, the National Education Council—which is addressed in several articles of the law—approves the national curriculum and ensures consistency across the system. It functions as an independent technical body and plays a key balancing role in major decisions.
While the Ley General de Educación includes many other provisions—some transitional, procedural, or administrative—this article focused on the ones we believe matter most for understanding its structure, purpose, and influence on Chile’s school system. From the definition of education itself to the creation of key public institutions, this overview shows how the LGE is more than a legal framework—it reflects a vision for the country.
At Aula Chilensis, we’re committed to creating space for thoughtful conversations about the laws that shape our schools.
Which part of the General Education Law do you think holds the most potential to transform education in Chile? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Comments