The present essay perceives in the inauguration of the new Magister in Intercultural and Bilingual Education in Temuco, the initiation of a second stage of Educational Reforms in Latin America, this time with a regional rather than a global focus. In this context, the paper takes into account various criticisms of the first stage of reforms before considering new educational challenges. It questions above al1 the linguistic preconceptions behind the
notions of "culture" and "interculturality" that are being used in current educational programmes, finding there the old debate between proponents of linguistic pragmatics and modern Saussurean linguistics. The author concludes that only a reevaluation of the constructive function of language at the heart of this debate will facilitate a new approach to two fundamental aspects of the second stage of educational reforms: interculturality and bilingual education
