Dealing with the Learning Gap: Strategies for the Educational Inclusion of Migrant Children in Public Schools in Arica, Chile

Many Venezuelan children and youth who have arrived in Chile recently have been in transit for long periods. On many occasions, children have been unable to attend school continuously because of the successive moves; the COVID-19 pandemic aggravated this situation. As a result, a nontrivial number of migrant children in Arica present delays in some crucial skills, e.g., reading and writing. Ministry guidelines indicate that migrant children should be assigned to a grade according to age, but these delays sometimes mean they have not developed the necessary skills to be placed in such a grade. How are schools dealing with these learning gaps? What actions are teachers and school authorities taking to facilitate the incorporation of these students into schools? This project addressed these questions by conducting 34 in-depth interviews with teachers and school authorities in six public schools in Arica, the northernmost city of Chile. In light of insufficient institutional guidelines, we find that schools use an array of strategies that exceed the merely educational, taking into account the socioeconomic vulnerability of Venezuelan families, their lack of social networks, limited work opportunities, and the trauma associated with their migration history. We conclude that, regardless of the tremendous efforts made by teachers and school communities, public policy that addresses migrant students’ educational as well as emotional and socioeconomic challenges is urgent.