Yet Another Educational Reform in Mexico <Article>

In his inaugural speech on December 1, 2012, President Enrique Pena Nieto made an announcement that soon involved fundamental changes in the political dynamics of education. Then he and the Federal Congress promoted constitutional amendments, which mandated the creation of two new laws: one for the National Institute for the Evaluation of Education; another for the creation of the General Professional Educational Service. These laws constitute the cornerstone of institutional changes that may move the functioning of the basic education system, but they have not yet affected school structure, the curriculum, and pedagogical delivery. These reforms also imply a re-centralization of duties that the federal government had decentralized to the states in 1992. They openly attack practices of the teacher union and offer more accountability and transparent use of resources. This restructuring of political power in education attempts to dismantle the core of corruption of the system of basic education: the inheritance and selling of teaching posts. These legal and political changes have created an environment for vigorous debates, teachers' labor unrest, and political confl icts. These are the focus of this paper.