Student Perspectives on Educational Quality in Technical Training Centers: An Exploratory Analysis

Abstract

Quality is a central theme in the public debate on higher education, yet it is a concept that is only loosely defined. Because it is relational and context-dependent, it resists a single, unified definition; nevertheless, understanding how it is perceived by different actors is essential to making practical progress toward higher-quality education. This study explores how students at Technical Training Centers (CFT) understand educational quality. These students have historically been underrepresented in debates on higher education in Chile. Drawing on a qualitative approach, 18 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with students from four CFTs. The findings indicate that students’ understandings of quality are situated and shaped by prior educational trajectories, institutional experiences, and dominant educational discourses. Elements can be identified in students’ accounts that point to different theoretical dimensions of educational quality—such as transformation or fitness for purpose—while also expressing demands for greater equity and for recognition of teachers’ pedagogical role. The study highlights the importance of incorporating these perspectives into the design of quality assurance policies and of acknowledging the diversity of views that coexist within Chile’s technical-vocational education system.