Chile curriculum

Overview

Chile does not run its school system around one terminal national exam. The Ministerio de Educación (Mineduc) sets a single national curriculum, the Bases Curriculares, published through curriculumnacional.cl, and schools are evaluated continuously against it through classroom grading, with a separate standardised monitoring test (SIMCE) layered on top to track how the system as a whole is performing. Schooling runs through three stages: Educación Parvularia (early childhood), Educación Básica (8 grades) and Educación Media (4 grades), the last of which splits into separate tracks once students reach upper secondary. Finishing Educación Media earns the Licencia de Educación Media, the certificate that closes school and opens the door to further study or work. The separate university-entrance test, the PAES (Prueba de Acceso a la Educación Superior, run by DEMRE), is outside the scope of this page.

Who can apply

This structure applies to every child enrolled in a Chilean school, public or private. By law, at least 13 years of schooling are compulsory and free: the second level of Educación Parvularia (kínder), the 8 years of Educación Básica, and the 4 years of Educación Media. Education is free in municipal and Servicio Local de Educación Pública schools and in most government-subsidised private (particular subvencionado) schools; fully private (particular pagado) schools charge fees but still follow the same national Bases Curriculares.

Structure

Educación Parvularia covers children from birth to about age 6, split into Sala Cuna (0–2 years), Nivel Medio (2–4 years) and Nivel de Transición, which includes prekínder and the compulsory kínder year (roughly 4–6 years).

Educación Básica runs from 1° to 8° básico, generally ages 6 to 13, teaching a common national curriculum in subjects such as Lenguaje, Matemática, Ciencias Naturales, and Historia, Geografía y Ciencias Sociales.

Educación Media lasts 4 years (1° to 4° medio). The first two years (1°–2° medio) share one common national curriculum for every student. From 3° medio, students choose between two main tracks that Mineduc recognises:

• Científico-Humanista: a general academic path. Alongside a shared general plan, students pick elective or in-depth subjects from broad areas such as sciences, humanities and social sciences, or arts and physical education.

• Técnico-Profesional: combines a lighter general plan with a technical specialty from Mineduc's nationally defined list of technical-professional specialties (for example administration, electricity, mechanics, gastronomy and tourism), preparing students to enter the workforce directly or continue into technical higher education.

Marking and results

Day-to-day evaluation in Básica and Media is governed by Decreto 67/2018, Mineduc's national reglamento de evaluación, calificación y promoción escolar. Students are graded continuously through the school year on a 1.0 to 7.0 scale (written with a comma in Chile, e.g. "4,0"), with 4.0 as the minimum passing average per subject. To be promoted to the next grade, a student must also have at least 85% attendance across the school year; a school's director, together with the Unidad Técnico-Pedagógica, can authorise promotion below that threshold in justified cases. A student who fails one subject can still be promoted with an annual average of at least 4.5 across all subjects, including the failed one; failing two subjects raises that bar to an average of at least 5.0.

SIMCE, run by the Agencia de Calidad de la Educación, is separate from this school-based grading. It is a standardised test applied each year to specific grades under Mineduc's multi-year evaluation plan, not to every grade or subject every year. For 2026, SIMCE is applied in Lenguaje (Lectura) and Matemática to 4° básico, 6° básico and II° medio; 8° básico and the sample English test alternate onto the calendar in other years. Every student enrolled in a tested grade sits it, but SIMCE measures how well schools and the system are meeting the Bases Curriculares — it does not decide whether an individual student passes, fails, repeats a grade, or graduates.

After the exam

A student who completes and passes 4° medio, under either track, is awarded the Licencia de Educación Media. It is a free Mineduc certificate stating the year of completion, the study modality and the school attended. For licences from 1995 onward it can usually be downloaded immediately online with a valid national ID; otherwise it can be requested in person or through Ayuda Mineduc or ChileAtiende. The Licencia de Educación Media is required to enrol in a technical training centre, professional institute or university, and to register for the PAES, the separate standardised test that most Chilean universities use for admission (run by DEMRE, outside the scope of this page).

Preparation tips

• Treat the year's coursework, not a single exam, as what decides promotion: keep subject averages above 4.0 and attendance above 85% throughout the year, since both are checked together.

• Decide between the científico-humanista and técnico-profesional tracks before the end of 2° medio, since the differentiated curriculum and, for técnico-profesional, the specialty choice, only start in 3° medio.

• If a SIMCE test falls in your child's grade in a given year, remember it checks how the school is doing against the national curriculum — it is not something an individual student needs to "pass."

• Students planning to go on to university should check DEMRE's own PAES requirements and calendar separately, since that process runs independently of finishing Educación Media.