Os alicerces da avaliação educacional no Brasil : a elaboração teórica de intelectuais na década de 1980

Abstract

The research analyzes the configuration of the scientific field of educational evaluation in Brazil in the 1980s, starting with the identification of Brazilian authors who helped to construct this field and their respective theoretical contributions on the subject in question. The 1980s were particularly rich for the organization of the Brazilian educational field, especially for evaluation, as it was a period in which the first systematized evaluation experiences for education in the country were formulated (Edurural / 1981, Paru 1983 , Cnres / 1985, Geres / 1986), a period in which considerable knowledge on educational evaluation was also accumulated, and which eventually became the main theoretical references for this subject. With these information, we can discuss the following question: what was the configuration of the scientific field of Brazilian educational evaluation in the 1980s? In order to respond to this questioning, we do a bibliographical and documentary research, associated with the strategies of bibliometric studies and content analysis. This methodology was developed in four stages: 1) Review of the bibliography; 2) Collection and organization of sources; 3) Analysis and interpretation of data; and 4) Presentation of the results of the research. Our hypothesis is that it was in the 1980s that the two main approaches to evaluation that started the discussions about educational evaluation in Brazil began to be outlined: one based mainly on the measurement of results and another that primarily advocates participation in evaluation processes. The results try to make explicit the understanding of the authors analyzed around what is evaluation, of which who are the responsible for the evaluation process, the methodologies defended in the accomplishment of the evaluation processes and of which uses of the evaluation results. The following positions are recurrent in the period: a) the evaluation appears as an inherent activity to the human doing, and therefore cannot be reduced to a mechanical action, since it implies in a relationship of power and negotiation between evaluator and evaluated; b) for the evaluator is required maturity and professional experience to deal with the complex activities that result from the evaluation process; c) the evaluation methodologies do not have a single standard, because they vary according to what is being evaluated and with the expertise of the evaluator; and d) regarding the use of evaluation results, the best option was if they made it public as soon as possible to assist in making decisions that aim at improving what has been evaluated. The research also shows that being in favor of one of the evaluation approaches, besides representing the interests of agents who defend and put into practice fundamentals that guide the understanding about what is evaluation, who should conduct the process, how it should be carried out and the what to do with its results, also reveals the more general concepts that support the very existence of the field. Our conclusion is that the scientific field of educational evaluation in Brazil in the 1980s was in the process of being constituted and its logic of functioning was based more on the complementarity of ideas on the subject of evaluation than on conflicts and competitions.