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RUEHQU RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM RUEHVC
DE RUEHME #2877/01 2691858
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 251858Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3368
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF EDUCATION WASHINGTON DC
INFO RUCNCAN/ALL CANADIAN POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RHMFISS/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MEXICO 002877 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL/AWH, AND ILSCR, WHA/MEX, USDOL FOR ILAB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ECON EFIN PGOV SOCI PINR MX
SUBJECT:  POOR TEST RESULTS STARTS TEACHERS, UNION ON SLOW 
ROAD TO CHANGE 
 
REF: MEXICO 1540 
 
 
¶1.  Summary: This past May Mexico,s Secretary of Public 
Education (SEP) and the National Teachers Union (SNTE) signed 
an agreement called the &Alliance for Quality Education.8 
One of the main elements of this agreement stipulated that 
applicants for teaching positions in Mexico,s public schools 
would have to pass an exam to prove their qualifications 
before being hired.  On August 11, the first ever national 
exam was given to determine the qualifications of over 71,000 
aspiring teachers.  To the surprise of many and the shock of 
the general public a full 68 percent of those who took the 
exam failed.  The exam was also given to over 17,500 teachers 
who had been hired but not yet given tenured positions.  Only 
7,150 of these untenured teachers passed the exam.  The 
quality of public education in Mexico has long been 
criticized for a variety of reasons.  Much of this criticism 
has focused on a teachers union that was over politicized and 
whose members were under prepared to actually teach. 
Following the announcement of the poor exam results the SEP 
and the SNTE announced plans to work together to retrain and 
re-test Mexico,s public school teachers.  Mexico,s National 
Teachers Union is the largest single labor organization in 
Latin American with an estimated 1.5 million members.  It is 
hoped that the re-training program the SEP and (in principal) 
the SNTE plan to implement will result in a more 
professionalized core of public school teachers in 
approximately seven years.   End Summary 
 
 
MEXICO,S NATIONAL TEACHERS, UNION 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  Mexico,s National Teacher Union (SNTE) is the larger of 
the country,s two education workers unions.  The SNTE is 
estimated to have roughly 1.5 million members and is widely 
recognized as being the largest single labor union in Latin 
America.  The SNTE is headed by its national President, Elba 
Ester Gordillo Morales; a controversial figure often accused 
of being more interested in furthering the interests of a 
corrupt union than in dealing with the many problems facing 
Mexico,s public school system.  Gordillo is often referred 
to as either &Elba Ester8 or more often than not simply as 
&the Teacher8.  She is an extremely powerful union leader 
whose influence extends far beyond the realms of either 
education or organized labor. 
 
¶3.  One of the many criticisms leveled at Gordillo is that 
she has over politicized the SNTE and done nothing to halt, 
much less reverse, blatant corruption in the union. (Comment: 
The SNTE has been accused of such things as buying and 
selling teaching positions, misuse of union funds, demanding 
sexual favors in order to be hired or tenured to mention just 
some of its alleged transgressions.)  No objective observer 
could deny that the SNTE is a very political union but, to be 
fair to &the Teacher8, it was a highly politicized 
organization before she became its leader.  It would probably 
be more accurate to say that she adroitly took full advantage 
of a pre-existing situation that many say allowed her and her 
supporters within the SNTE to amass considerable wealth and 
political power.  The undeniable rise in her personal wealth 
and political power notwithstanding and despite widespread 
comments to the contrary, &the Teacher8 rarely fails to 
maintain a hands-on approach to education related issues in 
Mexico.  Consequently, it was not particularly surprising 
when, in her capacity as the SNTE President, she entered into 
a potentially significant new agreement with the Mexican 
Government,s Secretary of Public Education (SEP) this past 
May. 
 
 
AN AGREEMENT FOR BETTER TEACHERS 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  On May 15, 2008, &Teachers Day8, Mexican President 
Felipe Calderon unveiled an &Alliance for Quality 
Education8 (REF) between his government,s SEP and the SNTE. 
 The stated aim of the alliance was to improve the quality of 
Mexican public education, school infrastructure and teachers' 
skills based on five elements: (1) modernization of schools, 
(2) renewal of teachers' selection and promotion processes, 
(3) implementation of scholarships and nutritional programs, 
 
MEXICO 00002877  002 OF 003 
 
 
(4) curriculum reform, (5) and improvement of the national 
education system for teachers and students.  Although it was 
not particularly noted at the time, the most far reaching of 
these elements may be the one concerning teacher selection 
and promotion. 
 
¶5.  In their discussions on how to implement the various 
elements of the Alliance the SEP and the SNTE committed 
themselves to hiring new teachers based on the results of 
public national competitions (exams) and also to tenure and 
promote based on professional merit.  The SNTE/SEP agreement 
called for the first of these exams (a &National Exam of 
Teaching Abilities and Competencies8) to be held in August, 
prior to the start of the new school year.  To their credit, 
the SNTE and SEP worked cooperatively together to develop 
this first of its type exam ever given in Mexico, organized 
the administration of the exam and then, as promised, 
arranged for nearly 90,000 people to take it before the start 
of the school year.  The SEP and the SNTE were justifiably 
pleased with their accomplishment; but only for a short 
while. 
 
 
EXAM RESULTS GET POSTED 
----------------------- 
 
¶6.  The SEP and SNTE moved very quickly to grade and then 
make available to the public in as transparent a process as 
possible the results of this exam to determine which 
aspirants met the qualification for employment as a public 
school teacher.  Some 71,000 candidates for a much smaller 
number of teaching positions signed up for and took the exam. 
 In theory, all of these aspirants had successfully graduated 
from one of the many &Normal8 schools that Mexico has used 
to train new teachers for at least the past 70 years. 
Unfortunately for all concerned, the results of the exam came 
as an extremely unpleasant surprise.  Fully 68 percent of all 
those taking the exam failed.  Not only that, but an 
additional 17,648 previously hired but as yet untenured 
teachers also took the exam and all but 7,150 of them failed 
the test as well. 
 
¶7.  The public reaction to these shocking exam results was 
quick and sharp.  Parents associations, the press and a broad 
range of education activists were shocked and appalled that 
so many aspiring teachers, who had presumably graduated with 
some form of degree in education, had failed their entrance 
exams.  The press and the general public were particularly 
outraged to learn that the SEP had no immediate plans to 
terminate the employment of the untenured teachers who had 
already started working in the public school systems and who 
were scheduled to be placed in classes teaching students at 
the start of the current school year.  The states that had 
the highest percentages of perspective teachers who failed to 
pass the exam were Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Sonora, Edomex 
(Mexico State) and Baja California. 
 
¶8.  Sharp criticism from almost all sides was leveled at the 
SNTE who immediately pointed its collective finger at the 
SEP.  A convincing case could be made for the criticism 
leveled at the SNTE and for the union,s accusations against 
the SEP.  Alas for the union, because of its already poor 
image and that of its national leader, &the Teacher8, few 
(if any) in the Mexican public were inclined to give it the 
benefit of the doubt. 
 
 
WHAT DO WE DO NOW? 
------------------ 
 
¶9. Faced with a situation in which nearly two-thirds of the 
applicants for public school teaching positions where 
demonstrably shown to be unqualified the SEP had to decide 
what to do next.  Given the fanfare with which the GOM 
unveiled the &Alliance for Quality Education8 its options 
regarding what to do about the job seekers who had failed to 
pass the exam were extremely limited.  The SEP committed 
itself to only hiring teachers based on the results of a 
public and transparent exam process and so far it is holding 
firm to that commitment.  Several days after the release of 
the exam results the SEP declared that no one who had failed 
it would be offered a teaching position.  Moreover, the SEP 
stated that those who failed the exam would not be allowed to 
 
MEXICO 00002877  003 OF 003 
 
 
retake it again this year.  (Comment: Post notes that thus 
far the SEP has not commented publicly about what it intends 
to do with the thousands of hired but untenured teachers who 
failed to pass the exam.) 
 
¶10.  Although the SEP declared that the applicants for 
teaching positions who failed to pass the exam would not be 
allowed to retake it again this year it did indicate that 
they could be retested again next year.  It also acknowledged 
that the results of the exam would tend to indicate that many 
teachers who have been hired and tenured in recent years were 
probably not the best-qualified applicants.  Consequently, 
the SEP is planning to institute a training program that will 
allow currently employed teachers to upgrade their job 
knowledge and skills. The SEP believes that it can train (or 
re-train as the case may be) upwards of 150,000 teachers per 
year of the estimated 1.5 million person employed as 
instructors in Mexico,s public schools.  At that rate the 
SEP hopes that once normal retirement, job changers and new 
hires (who have passed the exam) are taken into account, its 
efforts will result in a more professionalized core of public 
school teachers in approximately seven years. 
 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶11.  No matter how one looks at it the fact that nearly 70 
percent of the persons seeking teaching positions, as public 
school teachers could not pass what was essentially an 
entrance exam was an embarrassment for all concerned.  It is 
noteworthy that the SNTE did not dispute the disappointing 
results of the exam.  Perhaps this was because the union 
itself helped developed the exam.  The SNTE,s quiet 
acquiescence to the exam results may also be attributable to 
the fact that the vast majority of those who failed it were 
individuals applying to become public school teachers and 
were not yet actual members of the profession and by 
extension members of the National Teachers Union.  There are 
many SNTE members at the state level all across Mexico who 
are not happy with the changes they see coming, like the 
exam, as a result of the &Alliance for Quality Education8 
which will alter the way things have traditionally been done 
in the National Teachers Union.  The degree of state level 
discontent is large and it appears to be growing but so far 
the national leadership of the SNTE, and that includes &the 
Teacher8, has done nothing to encourage this discontent or 
to back away from the agreement they made with the GOM.  If 
the SNTE leadership continues to live up to its commitment to 
the Alliance this may well be the beginning of at least some 
level of positive change in the National Teacher Union and in 
Mexico,s public school system. 
Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American 
Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / 
GARZA