“Vale ponto para você, para a escola e para mim. tudo depende de vocês”: uma análise da política de avaliação em larga escala do Ceará em diálogo com a infância na escola

Abstract

This dissertation aims to analyze the public policy of educational assessment in the State of Ceará, specifically the SPAECE-Alfa, in the context of the second year of elementary education. Employing anthropological assumptions, both theoretical and methodological, the goal is to comprehend this policy through the lived experiences of the involved subjects. The analysis focuses on the construction of assessment in the daily school life and how it influences the formation of the students' childhood. The theoretical and political foundations supporting the concept of assessment in SPAECE- Alfa are examined, highlighting an anthropological approach to neoliberalism, the influence of this ideology on state dynamics, social relations, and, particularly, education. Methodologically, the research employs an ethnographic approach in a municipal school in Caucaia (CE), exploring the impacts of large-scale assessment policies on the school community. Specifically, it recognizes the importance of addressing childhood as an anthropological concept and investigating subjectivities in interaction with assessment policies. The results are based on participant observation methodology, with the researcher present at the school in the months leading up to the SPAECE assessment in 2021 and 2022. The data analysis reveals an excessive emphasis on assessment at the expense of discussing the daily lives of children, employing strategies of accountability, rankings, and control measures. In conclusion, the assessment has shaped ideological directions adopted by the school, reflecting in the "sobralização" of education. Furthermore, we observe that assessment is immersed in rituals contributing to the construction of both pedagogical meanings and the understanding of what it means to be a child in a neoliberal education. Therefore, it leads us to conclude that understanding these themes contributes not only to a critical analysis of assessment policies but also to the debate on the impact of assessment on children's educational experiences.