The president of the National Institute of Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira (Inep), Manuel Palácios, said on Wednesday (30), during the XII Meeting of the Brazilian Association of Educational Assessment (Abave), held at Unicamp, that the body wants expand cooperation with universities in areas that deal with assessments of the quality of education in the country.
According to the president of Inep, the organization is discussing the creation of a program aimed at research and training of doctors, specialized in the area of evaluation, with the participation of specialists from different universities. The idea is to create a network of researchers who work in the area of evaluation and who contribute permanently to Inep for the training of new specialists and the advancement of knowledge in this area.
Palácios explained that the basic education evaluation system must be renewed for the 2025 edition, as the historical series that accompanied the National Education Plan ends in 2024. “The first major effort is to renew the standard of our assessment instruments,” he said.
“In addition, there is a discussion today across the country — education departments, specialists, universities — about what is expected of students’ performance at the end of a basic education journey,” he states. “And this is work that Inep can coordinate, in partnership with various institutions, with education departments, with universities. I hope that next year we will make significant progress on this agenda,” he added.
Enem has to be renewed
Palácios recalled that there is a discussion involving government institutions and organizations about adjustments to the reform of secondary education and the proposal of new rules for the sector, in a process that covers Enem. “Enem has to be renewed and not just because of this discussion, but because it has been following a design built some time ago, in 2009. So, Inep has been discussing proposals to update its reference matrices; the way the test is constructed. But it is clear that everything related to Enem must be done sparingly, gradually”, he said.
Regardless of any discussion surrounding training itineraries and the reform of secondary education itself, however, Inep has been discussing how to improve the test. “But this has to be done gradually, it has to be announced, discussed, because Enem plays an immense role in the life projects of millions of young people, who prepare for the test well in advance”, he assesses.
High school training process
The president of the National Education Council (CNE), Luiz Roberto Liza Curi, says that any changes must take into account some aspects. “That Enem respects the training process of young people in high school. That it can be updated to this standard and that society be informed about this, as no one can be evaluated for what they did not study or for the trajectory they did not complete. This is a fundamental and foundational issue,” he said.
“We know that what is being done now is an improvement; an improvement in secondary education, whose reform began in 2017, with the adhesion of many institutions, and that these students are studying under an aegis that must be respected, no matter how much disagreement we may have or how many adaptations we make”, he ponders.
Curi also talks about what the CNE expects from the evaluation of higher education. “From the point of view of higher education, the Council’s fundamental concern is that evaluation leads institutions to permanent commitments to society’s challenges,” he said.
“Nobody thinks it’s a good idea for institutions to have high concepts and a horde of common curricula, without additions, without adjustments, without professional requirements. Nobody thinks it's good for institutions to have high curricula and be able to promote themselves around them and not have a necessary impact on society”, he warns.
“No one is satisfied with an evaluation that does not organize the successes of graduates in engineering, teacher training, health, humanities, in short, in all areas. It is very important that the evaluation conducts these impacts of the institution on society and is not just about monitoring rules”, he said. “The rules are important, but they are basic. From them, commitments, agendas and impacts must be built. And commitment, agendas and impacts need to be very well evaluated. And it is these dimensions that evaluations of higher education must focus on”, he explains.
For the president of the Council, the evaluation of basic education should also be a signal for higher education, in order to expand the reception of young people. “We want the entire country, Brazilian universities — especially public ones — to be mostly home to low-income students, who can feel welcomed and be enchanted with their careers from the first year of the course onwards”, he concludes.
Link between academia and society
The Abave congress — which, from August 29th to September 1st, brings together representatives from government bodies, researchers, experts and managers — was attended, this Wednesday, by the rector of Unicamp, Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles.
The dean said that an event like this is an indication of the academy's connection with society. “Having an event like this is essential, because it speaks to society,” he said. “Seeing a room like this (the Convention Center auditorium), so full of people interested in improving Brazilian education, fills us with hope and the certainty that we can make a difference. This is the deep conviction I have”, stated the rector.
The president of Abave, professor Maria Helena Guimarães de Castro, said that the congress' mission is to structure debates on teaching evaluation and, with this, discuss the future of evaluations. “Our big challenge is how to think about the future of assessments,” she said.
