Red Hot Chile Blog

Just back from my trip to Chile on Sunday. I was one of 19 principals from Great Britain and N Ireland to be chosen to take part in a leadership project linking with Latin American and Carribean countries. The trip was really amazing. I visited 5 post primary schools in two days, one in Santiago, the capital, two in Linares which is a four hour drive from Santiago, and two in Talca, a large town athree and a half hour drive away from the capital. After the visits, all the principals of the schools came to Santiago where there was a three-day conference on leadership, delivered by me and a primary school principal from England who had linked with 5 pjrimary schools and whose principals also attended the conference.

Visiting the schools was truly an eye-opener, with 45 students per class and buildings in a serious state of disrepair. However, the principals and staff were amazing, showing great dedication and determination despite conditions, as were the students who were really open, friendly and interested. The plan is to link my five schools with schools in N Ireland, with the principals visiting the schools next Spring. There is a huge discrepency between private education for those who can afford to pay for it and public education for everyone else. The day before General Pinochet, the military dictator, left power, he brought in a law which effectively enshrined the privileged place of the private schools and disadvantaged public schools. There is currently legislation going through parliament which will attempt to redress this imbalance.

While I know that I will get little sympathy, the schedule was extremely tight and the travelling exhausting, but it was totally worthwhile. Highlights included the people, who were wonderful, the scenery, and in particular the Andes, the food, with meat and fish to die for, and the visit to the house of Pablo Neruda in Isla Negra. Neruda was a Nobel Prize-winning poet who is still adored by Chilenos, which says a lot about Chile's culture. Evidence of Chile's bloody recent history is everywhere and on one evening I witnessed a demonstration outside a former torture house of the Pinochet regime, during which the disappeared "los desaparecidos" were again remembered.

I am looking forward to the visit of the principals next year and to developing links with our new-found friends and colleagues in Chile.