Curricular reforms in Latin America with special emphasis on the Argentine case

The purpose of this article is to describe the effect of the curricular reforms introduced in Latin America in the 1990s. Special emphasis is placed on the Argentine case. Therefore, this work initially makes a historical synthesis of the curricular policies in the region, from the creation of modern education systems by the end of the nineteenth century, up to the present. Secondly, the proposals for education reforms during the 1990s are put forward, with an emphasis on the Argentine experience. The search for some degree of decentralisation of the curricular policies and, at the same time, the emergence of centralised systems of educational assessment, are the issues treated in this section. Lastly, the work discusses the concrete effects that the reform policies have had in the Argentine case. The central hypothesis is that far from a decentralisation of decision- making responsibilities in terms of curriculum, the system is hyper-regulated as a consequence of the interaction of several factors, many of which are related to the centralised tradition which has characterised the development and management of curriculum in most countries in the region.