Articles in journals

  • António, A. S., & Teodoro, A. (2019). Critical discourse analysis: Between educational sciences and journalism. Fronteiras: Journal of Social, Technological and Environmental Science, 8(1), 18-35. https://doi.org/10.21664/2238-8869.2019v8i1.p18-35

In this research, in which we used Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) applied to the field of Educational Sciences, we submit the question – what relations can be identified between opinion articles concerning Education published in two broadsheet newspapers and the values and aspirations defended by the new middle class? A quantitative methodology was used, and the directors of the newspapers studied were interviewed, as well as parents and tea chers. CDA was used on the 20 opinion articles chosen as corpus of this study. It is our belief that it is essential to understand the intentions and the consequences of opinion articles related to the school.

In this article we carry out a preliminary reconstitution of the genealogy of the political decision to integrate Portugal in PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), promoted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, made in 1999 and implemented in 2000. For this we used a comprehensive analysis of newspaper articles, legal texts and documents on education policy as well as of interviews with relevant political actors. The first results of this analysis suggest that the decision, which was not unanimous among the government members with responsibilities in the education field, was taken by normative emulation, and aimed to consolidate a particular direction of the national education policy.

Portugal has been participating in several international studies related to student education and learning, carried out by several associations, in particular the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). One of the most recent is the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS), which seeks to assess the skills of students in the 8th year of school in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), focusing on two main domains: Computer and Information Literacy (CIL) and Computational Thinking (CT). In this article we analyze the general results of Portugal and gender differentiation. We use an interpretive methodology, based on the analysis of reports and databases sought by different organizations. The results show that Portugal is in the group of participants who registered an average score higher than the midpoint of the ICILS scale. It also revealed that there is a gender differentiation in the two domains.

  • Rosa, V. (2021). Avaliação internacional em larga escala: a participação de Portugal no TIMSS, PIRLS e ICILS ⌈The international large-scale assessment: issues from Portugal’s participation in TIMSS, PIRLS and ICILS⌉. EDUSER: revista de educação, 13(1), 23-40. http://dx.doi.org/10.34620/eduser.v13i1.148

In the last few decades, the large-scale evaluation has acquired an importance in the educational field. International studies developed from surveys are increasingly numerous and cover different domains. Portugal has been participating in several studies, allowing to obtain information about the educational system and the socioeconomic context of the families and students. These data are reflected in the definition and implementation of educational policies. In this article we present an analysis of three international studies in the field of education, in which Portugal participates: Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS), carried out by International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). In this article we present an analysis of the general results of Portugal and we use an interpretative methodology, based on the analysis of reports and databases produced by different organizations, and undertaken by IEA. Despite the different fluctuations, in the different study cycles, Portuguese students have been showing positive results.

This article analyzes the 2018 results of the Financial Literacy of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This international large-scale assessment traditionally focuses on reading, math and science literacy, and more recently includes collaborative problem solving and financial literacy. The analysis was performed from the known global data of the countries participating in PISA, but with a particular focus at the data from Portugal. The results show that, for the most part, young Portuguese seem to be reasonably prepared to actively respond to financial challenges. However, regional asymmetries are observed.

This article  presents an analysis of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study(TIMSS), for mathematics and science literacies, conducted bythe International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement(IEA), taking into account its general objectives, theevolution of student perfor-mances and the respective data for Portugal (by NUTS IIregions). The biblio-graphic and documentary reviewshowthat Portugal has been improving its results in TIMSS since 1995. It also revealed that there are differences regarding the re-sults by genderand cognitive dimensions (knowing, applying and reasoning). In TIMSS 2019, the Centro region was the territorial unit that obtained the best result in mathematics and science, not 4th and 8th years of schooling.

Widespread in 1961 in the United States of America (USA), the term “big science” refers to large-scale scientific research, substantial budget resources, large teams, large-scale instruments and laboratories, and the capability of producing colossal amounts of data. Using a qualitative research methodology, based on documentary and bibliographical analysis, this paper focuses on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), carried out by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), since we have assumed that, due to its “configurations”, it falls into the “big science” category. The results we found suggest that PISA can be considered the first program that fits into this way of doing science.

  • Rosa, V., Maia, J., & Mascarenhas, D. (2021). A participação de Portugal no inquérito internacional PIRLS (2011-2016) ⌈Portugal’s participation in the international PIRLS survey (2011-2016)⌉.  Indagatio Didactica, 13(3), 37-56. https://doi.org/10.34624/id.v13i3.25503

In this article we present an analysis of the evolution trends of the performance on reading literacy of the Portuguese students of the 4th year of schooling within the scope of the international survey Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) (including ePIRLS in 2016), conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), taking into account its general data and the respective data for Portugal. For this purpose, we analysed the reports and databases produced by IEA and by Instituto de Avaliação Educativa (IAVE). The results reveal that, in 2016, Portugal was in the group of participants who registered an average score higher than the central point of the PIRLS scale (500 points) but compared to 2011 that score represented a decrease. It also revealed that in 2011 girls had better achievement than boys, but that difference was practically eliminated in 2016 and that there are no significant differences between the results obtained in PIRLS and ePIRLS. Both in 2011 and in 2016, it was the Ave region that had the best results.

  • Rosa, V., Maia, J. S., & Mascarenhas, D. (2022). O PISA 2015 e resolução colaborativa de problemas: Os resultados dos alunos portugueses ⌈PISA 2015 and collaborative problem solving: The results of Portuguese students⌉. EduSer: revista de educação, 14(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.34620/eduser.v14i1.177

In this article we present an analysis of one of the literacy domains of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA): Collaborative Problem Solving (CPR). Compared to other literacies assessed by PISA (Reading, Science, Mathematics, Finance), CPR has been little studied in Portugal. We use an interpretative methodology based on reports and databases produced by different organizations. The results show that Portugal is at the top of the scale in relation to valuing relationships and valuing teamwork, pointing out that 15-year-old Portuguese students feel socially integrated, that boys obtain lower overall assessments than girls, following international trends, and that there is a differentiation between NUTS III regions. In the correlational analysis made between the scores of CPR and other International Large Scale Assessments (ILSA), it was found that there is a statistically significant correlation, positive, only with the three domains of PISA-2015 –Lecture. Mathematics and Science.

This article presents a comparative analysis of three international surveys: PISA, carried out by OECD, and TIMSS and PIRLS, undertaken by IEA, considering their general objectives and the data correlation on Portugal (by NUTS III regions). The analysis of general results reveals that Portugal’s results has been improving in PISA, in the three domains (reading, mathematics and sciences), that they have improved in TIMSS in mathematics, while the reading performance in PIRLS has declined. The comparative analysis by regions has shown that there is a difference in results by regions and that, while the domain factor does not seem relevant, the object of evaluation factor in each study seems decisive for the results of the surveys. This comparison has also revealed a direct link between the GDP/inhabitant and the results of the surveys in regions with extreme values of GDP/inhabitant, although this relation does not exist for most regions.

This article examines the OECD’s role in the construction of education policies in Portugal after the Second World War up to the Carnation Revolution (1974). For a large part of the twentieth century (1926–1974), Portugal lived under a nationalist dictatorship, with elements that were on a par with the European fascism. After analysing the genesis of the OECD (OEEC, as originally established), this article describes how participating in the Mediterranean Regional Programme, designed and conducted by the OECD/OEEC between 1960 and 1968, was important to integrate Portugal in the western sphere of influence, and enabled the creation of the basis for an education policy which would represent the most important source of mandate and legitimacy for the developmentalist positions and proposals arising from the technocratic sectors of the regime which, increasingly, gained influence in the economic departments and in the offices of education planning and labour force training in the 1960s and early 1970s.

  • Teodoro, A., & Lopo, T. T. (2021). The OECD again: legitimization of a new vocationalism in the educational policies in Portugal (1979–1993). Paedagogica Historica. doi: 10.1080/00309230.2021.1941143

The paper presents an analysis of the examination of Portugal’s education policy conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 1987 as well as of its role in the legitimation of a new vocationalism. In particular, the focus is on the key recommendation put forward in the examiners’ report regarding the investment in the initial professional qualification of young people and its relation with the creation, in 1988, of a new administrative body within the Portuguese Ministry of Education tasked with coordinating the system of non-higher education in the area of technological, artistic and professional education, responsible for launching the professional schools in 1989, and also the technology courses at secondary-school level in 1993. The results of our analysis suggest that it was this examination by the OECD that effectively paved the way for the renascence of professional education in Portugal, but now rethought and redefined as a socially regulated, extended and grounded form of vocationalism.