As of the second half of 2017, the Superintendency of Education began to move towards a new way of carrying out its audits. In virtue of this transition, it designed and applied to its auditing task the so-called Model with a Focus on Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, which not only serves as a guide for its auditors, but also for educational establishments and their communities.
This model is composed of two macro programs, the normative and the financial programs. The former is aimed at reviewing compliance with educational regulations, while the latter monitor the correct use of funds. Both contemplate objectives with respect to the rights safeguarded and their freedoms, the processes of the audited establishment, the matters to be reviewed and the tests and audit procedures to be applied in the inspection processes.
According to the Superintendency itself, the model seeks, among other things, to avoid administrative sanctioning procedures for findings that may imply minor or less serious violations of the regulations. Thus, in those cases in which the inspectors record in their inspection reports minor or less serious non-compliances, an amendment procedure is initiated so that the audited establishment resolves the authority’s finding and thus avoids the initiation of a sanctioning procedure.
The model and its procedures for amending findings offer educational establishments the opportunity to focus on prevention, which necessarily involves a review of their respective internal regulations and protocols, and the incorporation into their processes of compliance criteria and practices that help them to identify the risks associated with their activity, in order to manage them and ultimately avoid their occurrence or their consequences. All of the above in order to save them an extra administrative burden, thus allowing schools to focus primarily on the work around the classroom.