Verónica Cabezas is the Co-founder and Executive Director of Elige Educar, a
public-private initiative under the Center for Public Policy at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, dedicated to ensuring that all children in Chile have access to outstanding teachers and preschool educators.

For Dr. Cabezas, teachers are the cornerstone of a quality education, and efforts to attract, retain, appreciate, and improve their working conditions are the main challenges that have driven her career.

Under her leadership, Elige Educar has led various projects such as the Quiero Ser Profe (I want to be a Teacher) initiative, which aims to attract more talent to
educational careers. This programme mentors 10,000 students yearly who are
interested in teaching and has an impact evaluation that shows positive results in enrollment. Meanwhile, the Somos Profes programme works with novice teachers during their first three years, aiming to improve teacher retention in the system where 10% of novice teachers leave the profession after their first year in the classroom.

Elige Educar has also worked to bring forward public policy proposals that have led to improvements in teachers' working conditions. Teacher working hours have been brought down whilst salaries have increased by 30%. As a result of these efforts, and those to raise the status of the teaching profession including through national prizes (Global Teacher Prize Chile and the Elige Innovar prize), Elige Educar has contributed to a significant increase in the number of top performers going into teaching, helping to improve teaching quality in Chile over the last decade.

Dr. Cabezas is also part of the Latin American Coalition for Teaching Excellence, a network that works towards the professionalisation of teaching at the regional level. She has also collaborated with international organisations such as the
Inter-American Development Bank and the United Nations Development Programme. She is also Co-founder of Enseña Chile (Teach for Chile, part of the Teach for All network).

Dr. Cabezas serves as a researcher and professor at the Faculty of Education at
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, where she has led research focused on
teaching challenges and educational innovations. In her classes, she has had the
opportunity to train future professionals from various disciplines, from education to engineering, who today contribute to addressing educational issues from different perspectives.

Her tireless work has been recognised with the 100 Mujeres Líderes (100  Leading Women in Chile) award in 2010, 2015, and 2023, an accolade that highlights her contributions from both academia and civil society to the educational development of the country. These merits have led her to be part of the Boards of various NGOs and civil society organisations (such as Fundacion Educacional Oportunidad, which promotes quality early childhood education, and Comunidad Mujer, which promotes women empowerment), as well as being invited to important councils of various ministries. She is currently focused on building collaborative bridges across sectors to ensure that the Chilean educational system supports its teachers, and thus itschildren.