With extended distance learning, at least, at the start of the third period of classes, the government announced new dates for national exams for secondary education. But also changes in way of calculating the weight of exams in internal year-end averages. A subject that is generating controversy and that teachers, students and parents consider to be a step towards the lack of equity in access to higher education.
If students were previously able to apply for an exam in a discipline from which they had already been able to pass the year to increase its final value, this will no longer be possible this year. The exam score will in no way alter the internal, with an important weight in the application for higher education. And the measure may even benefit students who attend schools that inflate internal ratings.
“It is fair to conclude that students from schools that inflate their grades, either in schools that do it out of habit or in any school that does so, will benefit from the rest in the competition for access to higher education”, says the president of the Council of Schools, an advisory body to the Ministry of Education, speaking to DN.
José Eduardo Lemos points out that, therefore, “contrary to what was stated” by the government, there are changes in the way students access higher education this year. “These new measures constitute a change in the rules of access to higher education, since the average rating with which each student will complete secondary education [e que é considerada, no mínimo, em 50% no aceso ao ensino superior] it will be different from what would be obtained if the rules remained as they were until last year “, concludes.
Also according to the president of the National Teachers Association, Paula Figueiras Carqueja, “no student should be prevented from taking a test that allows him to obtain the desired grade improvement”. Especially after affirming “that all the rules previously defined for access to higher education should not be changed”.
Students and teachers want to take the debate to Parliament
The current scenario
motivated the creation of a petition, signed by more than eight thousand people (as of the date of publication of this article), “against the elimination of the improvement of the final classification of the discipline by exam”.
“The approved amendment in relation to this specific point constitutes an attack on the work, money and effort invested by thousands of Portuguese students in their future”, can be read in the document, addressed to the Assembly of the Republic, the Ministry of Education, the Directorate -General of Education and the National Examination Jury. Students ask for a “review of the measures approved by the Council of Ministers on April 9, 2020”.
A request reinforced by the National Teachers Association. “We also asked the government to reconsider the measures presented and that it intends to implement”, writes the president of this organization to DN.
DN has already questioned the Ministry of Education about the possibility of changing the rules, but without success.
In an interview with the Student Forum platform, last week, the Secretary of State for Education, João Costa, recalled that the decree-law stipulates scenarios “in view of the situation we are experiencing” and, therefore, “having the expectation that everything runs equally is illusory”.
The only exception to the current formula is students who have already completed secondary education in previous years and intend to re-apply for higher education or change course. For these, there are two possible routes, according to a statement sent by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, last Friday. “In situations where the classification of the final national exam then carried out was lower than the internal classification of the discipline, the internal classification of the discipline must be used”, reads. On the other hand, “in situations where the classification of the national final exam then carried out was equal to or higher than the internal classification of the respective discipline, the final classification of the discipline must be used”.
More than ten schools inflate grades
Between the academic years 2012-2013 and 2017-2018, the Ministry of Education registered 18 institutions that would be inflating the ratings of its students. According to the “banknote alignment” indicator, released in early 2019, the tutelage showed how many and which schools gave considerably higher grades to their students than those that were awarded to the remaining students from various schools in the country and with the same results in the 11th and 12th grade exams. The vast majority of these educational establishments are private and have remained at the top of the rankings of education.
However, the number of schools in this register has been decreasing. In 2018, 12 were analyzed by the General Inspection of Education and Science (IGEC) and the final report showed that more than 80% of the inspected establishments were able to reduce inflation over the years.
In terms of the legal framework, there is no penalty for schools due to this practice, except in cases where they do not communicate their evaluation criteria. The only room for maneuver is to recommend and guide these educational institutions, which are the responsibility of IGEC.
The prospect of change in the panorama of the practice of misalignment of grades in Portugal was precisely what motivated the tutelage to disseminate this data, as a way to help schools correct their mechanisms and ensure greater equity in access to higher education. But it is precisely the lack of equity that is now pointed out to the government.
– .
