RCAAP Repository

This study aims to analyze professional learning assessment procedures considering the specific teaching performance profile in early childhood education. A cohort of Portuguese students involved in a practicum in early childhood education, at a master level, participated in this exploratory study. Data were collected using an assessment instrument composed of 25 dimensions organized in four domains (Observation, Planning, Action and Reflection), applied at two different instances: regulatory assessment and final assessment. The results showed a statistically significant and positive evolution in 21 of the 25 dimensions examined, between the two instances of assessment. Data allow conclusions to be drawn regarding the learning of professional skills, and the potentialities of an authentic and co-participative approach in the assessment of practical training and in the endogenous understanding of training processes.

Teaching evaluation is widely used in higher education under the argument of ensuring and improving the quality of student experience; however, it is embedded in a series of tensions and conflicts. With the objective of understanding the meanings attributed to teaching evaluation, students and professors of a public university were interviewed. In addition, the Manual of the Quality of the university for framing such interviews was analyzed. Students and professors are in favor of teaching evaluation, but they emphasize the lack of publicity given to the results, and the weak practical use of the feedback collected. Professors require institutional support. The university has a complex system of quality centered around the collection of information, lacking both support measures and the promotion of teaching. The effective application of student-centered learning, and the ability to gather evidence to demonstrate it using teaching-learning practices, are identified as the challenges.

Our proposal is to investigate the harmony or lack of it between the academic concept of scientific literacy and the one stated in the documents of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and in educational standards. Despite all complexity and conceptual polysemy around the concept of literacy/scientific literacy, we developed a theoretical comparative analysis of this concept as designed by experts, comparing it to the concept of scientific literacy laid down on the assessment basis of the PISA 2015, considering also the projection standardized by public educational policies. Finally, we identified less chords, and, for various reasons, more dissonance, that can serve as a contribution to discuss the validity and relevance of PISA as an assessment tool, as well as on the type of learning to be ensured by our educational system.

This article uses microdata from the National High School Exam (Enem) and the Higher Education Census to make simulations of the effects of quotas, and quantifies and qualifies their estimated effects on the access of students to federal universities, including the distribution of Enem scores as well as the cutoff and average scores for quota and non-quota students. The results show that the greater diversity (in terms of public school, poor and minority students) in federal universities caused by the introduction of the quota system has not led to the admission of students with significantly lower scores when compared to the scenario without quotas. This is due to the existence of potential quota students whose scores are in the highest score decile in sufficient numbers to fill the reserved places.

This article presents results that were gathered during a Master’s study developed using an Educational Investigative-Action (EIA) method with a group of teachers from a public institution of preschool education in the municipal school system of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul. The focus of the study was the evaluation used in preschool, in order to understand its relation to the quality of the pedagogical practices of teachers who work with children less than 3 years old. In addition, the present study investigated the evaluation practices performed in that context, bearing in mind the qualification of the pedagogic practices based on reflective process generated in the teachers. The results indicate that this is a process under development in the studied context. Furthermore, the potential of evaluation for ongoing teacher training is made evident and, consequently, for the qualification of childhood educational contexts.

This paper deals with some issues related to the analysis of two narratives written by in-service and pre-service English language teachers, following an application of a Proficiency Examination for Foreign Language Teachers [Exame de Proficiência para Professores de Língua Estrangeira – EPPLE] in a public university located in the western Amazon. The discussion is based on the following principles: (i) the implications for assessment in the teaching and learning of foreign languages related to the reconstruction and promotion of socialized practices; (ii) the quality of a linguistic, communicative and pedagogical proficiency of foreign language teachers underlying the elements of validity and reliability of EPPLE; and (iii) the intersection of experiences materialized as washback effects from a process of assessment practices. The analysis of the teachers’ discourses indicates an intersection between teachers’ memories and professional experiences. 

Higher education should be viewed as the development of a professional capable of dealing with complex situations. Reviewing evaluation processes can identify gaps in training and drive correction initiatives. This study aimed to analyze the prevalence of test questions that require clinical reasoning and its progression during programs. The questions were assessed by period, knowledge area and complexity. Of 429 questions, 99 (23.1%) were considered as related to clinical reasoning, and 330 (76.9%) to theoretical reasoning. The highest rate of theoretical reasoning questions was found for the basic area (86.2%), whereas with clinical reasoning questions, the highest rate was found for pediatrics (31%). The results point to a significant prevalence of content-based questions to the detriment of questions related to clinical reasoning. Although an increase in the latter type is evident, the final result is still below expectations. Research on this topic is necessary for mapping and designing intervention initiatives. 

The objective of this study was to analyze how the results of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) were used in the Brazilian educational context. The literature review showed that assessment is a fundamental factor for the qualification of education, for elaborating an overview of the PISA studies in Brazil, as well as for promoting discussions about the need to use the results of evaluations on a large scale. Based on the documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews, it was possible not only to present a study on the use of the PISA results in the country but also to establish categories of uses, such as Improper Usage or Lack of Usage, showing the possibilities and difficulties of such use and the administrators’ role in this process.

This paper aims to discuss the relationship between the evaluation of graduate courses and the internationalization of Brazilian higher education. To do so, this study reviews the ranking evaluation criteria and the role of foreign language in these processes. This study is bibliographic and documental and discusses the tensions and implications that exist and underpin the evaluation of graduate courses and the internationalization of higher education. In general, this study shows that the criteria for evaluating higher education used in international rankings do not reflect the reality of Brazil and they do not evaluate our institutions favorably. Concerning the role of foreign language in higher education evaluation and internationalization, the study shows that English plays a key and decisive role in this evaluation.

This article aims to address the pedagogical aspects of international assessments that include the Science field, focusing especially on the last edition of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Third Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (TERCE). The procedural and conceptual foundations of these studies and some results concerning the performance of Brazilian students are presented and discussed here. Therefore, the limits and the possibilities of using these data for the formulation of educational policies that impact the teaching of sciences, such as the Common National Curricular Base (BNCC) and the assessments provided for in the National Education Plan (PNE) are discussed.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international comparative assessment program applied to samples of 15-year-old students. Together with other countries, Brazil and Japan have participated in this program since its first edition in 2000. DIF (Differential Item Functioning) analysis was used to identify factors that could explain performance differences in scientific literacy between Brazilian and Japanese students, in the 2006 edition. Based on the test results, this analysis showed patterns of differentiated effects. To identify the items that showed differential functioning between Brazil and Japan, we used the Bayesian integrated model. In addition to confirming this occurrence, this model may also explain the DIF. DIF was found in all covariates selected. However, differential functioning did not always favor either of the two countries. There are competencies that discriminate more against the Brazilian students and areas of application of the items that sometimes were easier for Brazilian and sometimes for Japanese students.

This study aims to analyze the phenomenon of school discipline using data from the PISA 2012; to apply a multilevel linear regression model considering the disciplinary climate as the dependent variable and to identify explanatory intra and extra-school factors associated with discipline. The most significant contribution of this paper is to point out that the discipline issue seems to be more dependent on intra than extra school factors. Classical variables such as socioeconomic status, type of school and gender had no influence on discipline, presupposing the idea that the phenomenon is directly associated to students’ social background. The proportion of repeat students in school proved to be the factor of greatest impact on discipline.

This paper uses data from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 of Brazil, Chile and the United States to analyze the opportunity of students from different socioeconomic backgrounds to learn Mathematics, assessed by the exposure to concepts and problems of this discipline. The Brazilian students present major disadvantages compared to the others in terms of curriculum coverage and even the richest students have a low probability of curriculum exposure compared with their peers from other countries. In addition, the likelihood of never having been exposed to mathematical concepts and problems increases as the concepts become more complex, and as inequality increases between the poorest and the richest. Therefore, not only do we observe large inequalities between rich and poor regarding their opportunities to learn Mathematics, but also a low curriculum exposure of Brazilian students as a whole.

Educational policy around the world is increasingly driven by a desire to emulate the “best practices” of nations that have performed well on cross national tests of pupil achievement such as Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS). This article provides a critical analysis of how this applied form of comparative education operates; the logic and assumptions on which it is based and the key actors involved.

O resgate da década de 50 na história da antropologia brasileira traz à luz a constituição de uma rede social de antropólogos, educadores e sociólogos, em torno da figura de Anísio Teixeira. Este grupo empenhou-se na criação de um aparato institucional para a educação e na investigação da realidade social das comunidades para subsidiar uma nova política - no período que veio a ser considerado "os anos de ouro" da educação brasileira. O exame dessa interação entre educação e ciências sociais remonta às décadas anteriores, especialmente aos participantes do movimento pela Escola Nova

Baseado nas representações de trabalhadores da Grande São Paulo, o artigo investiga o processo de encarreiramento profissional de homens e mulheres das classes subalternas, discutindo suas aspirações, movimento ascensional e busca de qualificação profissional. O exame das contradições em seus projetos à luz das determinações do mercado leva ao questionamento da valorização do trabalho autônomo versus assalariamento, assim como da própria condição de classe de um operariado embalado na quimera da sociedade igualitária que acena com a possibilidade de ascensão. O artigo insere-se na preocupação do autor em contribuir para o redirecionamento da Orientação Profissional.

Um breve apanhado histórico dos métodos de alfabetização delineia sua diversidade e evolução. Não se trata, entretanto, de reacender a polêmica sobre sua adequação: alerta-se para os riscos de um deslocamento da questão sobre "o melhor método" para a condenação generalizada de qualquer método (em última instância, condenação da própria educação formal), preocupante em nossa América Latina onde a escola ainda é o meio mais eficaz de combate ao analfabetismo.