Resumen

FERNANDES, Domingos. A avaliação das aprendizagens no Sistema Educativo Português. Educ. Pesqui. [online]. 2007, vol.33, n.03, pp.581-600. ISSN 1517-9702.

The main purpose of this paper is to discuss the major features of the learning evaluation system as applied to pupils from the basic and secondary levels, such as proposed by the Portuguese curriculum. The high failure rates observed are analyzed and stimulate various reflections, which take into account that the above mentioned system has features that should, in principle, contribute to help students progressing and not failing: a) the predominance of formative evaluation, aimed at regulating and improving the learning; b) the predominance of internal evaluation, with schools and teachers playing a major role in the pupil evaluation process; and c) the fact that decisions related to pupils' progress or failure only have to be made at the end of each cycle of mandatory schooling. The article also discusses the internal evaluations, of total responsibility of schools and teachers, and the external evaluations, namely those that have been carried out under the auspices of the international organizations. Generally speaking, it can be said that the learning evaluation system defined in the Portuguese curriculum has a progressive, and even innovative, character that tries to adapt to the reality of the education system. However, the study has shown that there is still a significant difference between what is legally proposed and what effectively takes place in the so-called "real system", that is, at the schools and classrooms. Recommendations are therefore made to reduce, or perhaps eliminate, such discrepancies which, in the author's view, constitute one of the most important challenges that Portuguese society has to face in the years to come.

Palabras clave : Learning Evaluation; Formative Evaluation; External Evaluation; Exams; School Failure.

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