The national education management through the protagonism of large-scale assessments of Pisa

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study is to identify what actions express the protagonism of international bodies in Brazilian educational management published in media documents, aiming to meet the demands of Pisa results. What followed was the search for the answer to the following question: What are the actions that emphasized the protagonism of international organizations in Brazilian educational management, guided by the results of Pisa editions and disseminated through media vehicles? The thesis of this research is to show that the documents published in the media are responsible for emphasizing the protagonism of international organizations in educational management as for the production and publishing of educational policies guided by the results of Pisa editions. This is a quali-quantitative research, having a bibliographic and documental basic nature, based on the methodological outline of pluralism. The methodological procedures were established by the analysis of documents published in the media, which represented the object of this study. Through the categorization of the documental analysis of media documents, that is comprised of national reports of Pisa and journalistic textual genres, the delimitation of conceptual units listed from the reading of the documents related. The documental analysis allowed to locate 57 actions of the national educational management, between the decade of 1990 and the year of 2001.

Keywords:
Protagonism; Pisa; Assessment; Educational Management; Media Documents

RESUMO

O artigo tem o objetivo de identificar quais são as ações que expressam o protagonismo dos organismos internacionais na gestão educacional brasileira divulgado em documentos midiáticos visando atender as demandas dos resultados do Pisa. A pesquisa transcorreu motivada por responder a seguinte questão: Quais são as ações que evidenciam o protagonismo dos organismos internacionais na gestão educacional brasileira, norteado pelos resultados das edições do Pisa e divulgado através dos veículos midiáticos? A tese da pesquisa defendeu que os documentos divulgados nos meios midiáticos se encarregam por evidenciar o protagonismo das organizações internacionais na gestão educacional quanto à produção e disseminação de políticas educacionais guiadas pelos resultados das edições do Pisa. A pesquisa teve a abordagem qualiquantitativa, de cunho bibliográfico e documental e se constituiu por uma natureza básica, pautada no delineamento metodológico do pluralismo. Os procedimentos metodológicos se estabeleceram pela análise de documentos publicados nos meios midiáticos e que representaram o objeto de estudo. Teve na categorização da análise documental dos documentos midiáticos, composta por relatórios nacionais do Pisa e por gêneros textuais jornalísticos, a delimitação das unidades conceituais inventariadas a partir da leitura dos documentos arrolados. A análise dos documentos permitiu localizar 57 ações da gestão educacional nacional, entre a década de 1990 e o ano de 2001.

Palavras-chave:
Protagonismo; Pisa; Avaliação; Gestão Educacional; Documentos Midiáticos

Introduction

This paper is an excerpt of a doctorate dissertation whose objective is to present the research partial results in which it was studied the protagonism of international organisms, mediated by large-scale assessments of the Programa Internacional de Avaliações de Alunos (Pisa) in the Brazilian educational management. For this purpose, national media documents, related to the national reports of Pisa and journalistic textual genres categorized in papers, interviews, News and reposts, were analyzed. The following question meets the agenda: What are the actions that emphasized the protagonism of international organizations in Brazilian educational management, guided by the results of Pisa editions and disseminated through the media? In order to meet the demand of the research problem, considering decade 1990, including the documental objects published in the media related to the stages of Pisa that began in 2000 and extend, three times a year, until the assessment in the year of 2018, with documents considered until the year of 2021.

The documents collection was directed to the national education management sphere represented by the Ministry of Education (MEC), which designates guidelines for other spheres of national educational systems. The protagonism of centralized educational management, centered on the administration of the MEC and other integrated institutions, is subject to the induction of the process of circulation and transfer of educational policies, related to educational research and anchored by large-scale external evaluations. These policies are encouraged by international organisms and subject to principles of the globalized economy, as is the case of Pisa, developed by the Organization for Co-operation and Economic Development (OECD). “Educational reform practices present in globalization impose themselves as hierarchical strategies and applications of power, originating in central nations and impacting peripheral countries in different ways” (Oliveira, 2020, p. 75).

At each stage of the PISA results publication, it becomes increasingly evident that media reports highlight the prominent role of international organizations in shaping national educational policies and practices. They publicize the commitment of the educational management, at a macro level, when promoting policies that meet, with a direct or indirect correlation, the orientations determined by reports of OECD, taking into account the improvement of education quality indicators. This way, the action of central actors, extensive to other educational spheres, (re)configure the cohesion process and consensus interested in the educational quality published to several educational systems of the country.

The place of the State in the national base education management

The bureaucratic state model that existed in the 1970s, associated with the growing globalization of the economy and technological development, underwent a paradigm shift. Recognized as burdensome and unresponsive to the demands of the late 20th century, the bureaucratic government gave way to the advancement of ideas inspired by business administration and managerial architecture, following the logic of the accounting paradigm. The relation between the State and public education, triggered by the management accounting paradigm, reveals visible variables followed by changes between “public and private, between democratic citizenship and education for democracy, on the one hand, and elitist and neoliberal conceptions of democracy and new theories of human capital, on the other” (Lima, 1997, p. 49). It is important to emphasize that the central elements of the management model locate the “efficiency, costs reduction and the quality of public services provision. The focus of management administration is the consumer” (Schneider; Nardi, 2019, p. 62).

Through this path, the crisis installed in the functioning and organization of the State demanded the emergence of the reform submitted and implied by the modernization of administration, in accordance with the “reinvention of government, administrative action oriented towards results, new public management” (Afonso, 2001a, p. 24 - author’s emphasis). The regulating function attributed to the nation-state, exceeded the commitment of mere producer of goods and services in order to transform itself into a market process regulator. This function, which is conjugated by a set of designations intended to consolidate the various forms of State action and can be identified as a reflexive State, an active State, an articulating State, a supervisory State, an evaluating State, a competing State (Afonso, 2001a).

The evaluating State is disseminated in the administration of centralized control of education, through school curricula, school management, the work of teachers, the evaluation for the purpose of standardized publicization of results and mediated by neoliberal market strategies, proving the (in)efficiency of the public administration’s educational policies. “Education started to be seen as a service, not as a right, and the school as an organization, not as an institution” (Santana, 2018, p. 39). The assessment, as the most important element of education control, and also, that obtained centrality from 1980, favored the structuring of public policies for the education of the State as regulator. In contrast, the logic of the competition State contributes with the implementation of the market that legitimates, internally and externally, the political of the State.

With regard to the competencies defined for education, the evaluative State exceeds the traditional centered bureaucratic regulation and moves towards the form of hybrid regulation that combines the control of the State with strategies of autonomy and self-regulation of educational institutions. The presence of the evaluative State, at basic educational levels, promotes the expressive competitive ethos responsible for the implementation of pressures onto schools and, according to Afonso (2001a, p. 26), on the levels of

[...] (fundamental and high school in Brazil) through external evaluation (national examinations, examinations checked and standardized and strategies for more regular presence by agents of Education General Inspection while central body of the Ministry of Education), and through the predominance of an instrumental and mercantil rationality that tends to overrate quantifiable and measurable academic indicators without taking into account the specificities of educational contexts and processes.

The neoliberal dimension integrates public educational heritage into a set of free supply and demands goods (marketable), in which the State break the responsibility towards the education democratic commitment as a universal right. In this regard, the “State has not withdrawn nor resigned from the direction power and control onto the educational system”, but it perseveres in its coercive power and in its role of social regulator, promoting “its own retraction as State and favor market expansion” (Afonso, 2007, p. 15).

Neoliberal policies have the objective of promoting the market system adapted to the administrative structure of the State, press the competitive action, transform individuals into customers, privatize and submit social services to the effectiveness and efficiency dynamics. It identifies the quasi-markets through the hybrid profile of new forms of financing, supply and regulation, but that does not necessarily mean a decrease in its power of intervention. “They are a type of ex libris of caráter híbrido public/private hybrid character, state/market [...] of neoliberal expansion” (Afonso, 2001b, p. 37 - author’s emphasis).

Quasi-markets are markets that alter the “State suppliers’ monopoly by a diversity of independent and competitive suppliers; they are quasi because they differ from conventional markets” (Afonso, 1999, p. 143 - author’s emphasis). Therefore, the Market in education (which is not the perfect competition classic market) is meticulously regulated and controlled by the State, before the introduction of curricula, evaluations intended for publishing of results which determine the pressures by internal competition of the educational system. Before this context, the actions of the State are redefined to implement measures that aim “decentralization of responsibilities related to implementation and subsequent evaluation of actions and local and institutional decisions” (Afonso, 2007, p.16).

Otherwise, the action of the articulator-State “easily allows it decentralize the social pressure related to the rights to a variety of new non-state collective actors [...], being led to assume themselves as partners, they assume [...] important share of responsibilities in the achievement of public objectives” by the State’s responsibility (Afonso, 2001b, p. 39 - author’s emphasis). Then, partnerships collaborate in the elaboration and implementation of public policies for education, and that alter the conception of government to the conception of governance.

Afonso (2001a, p. 24) adds to this itinerary, that the international institutions indicate reforms for the “state in its social control and political-administrative functions apparatus, or that induce [...] the so-called modernizing measures that lead the State to assume [...] a function of mediation and suitability to priorities externally defined”. This way, making it responsible for the accomplishment of agendas which guide global hegemony of capital transnationalization and identified with global governance. Global governance disciplines and reinforces “globalized and hegemonic practices of educational provision which raise questions of legitimacy and authority [...] of accountability [...] and power” (Schultz, 2012. p. 35).

Before this globalizing context, the existence of interventions in nations must be recognized, more or less vigorously, by supranational organization and regulation agencies (Non-governmental Organizations-NGOs, Mercosul, World Trade Organization-WTO, World Bank, OECD, International Monetary Fund-IMF, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, having as consequences the publishing of political orientations. Technical and financing cooperation of the World Bank achieved with Brazil, dating back to the 1970s, in which determined political performances and orientations via finance loans. In the 1990s, when neoliberal conjuncture gains momentum in Brazil, the strategic role of the World Bank intensifies the influence on educational policies.

In the Brazilian educational scenario, the orientations of OECD occur continuously for more than 20 years and have permeated different governments carrying out the educational communication with the National Institute of Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira -INEP. Since the 1990s, Brazil became an OCDE punctual partner, and in 2007 the Ministerial Council of the organization created a “resolution, strengthening the cooperation with Brazil and other Key-Partners” (Oliveira, 2020, p. 76). “Brazil is considered an OECD strategic partner [...] and it made an agreement with the organization, in 2015, an agreement of cooperation, whose interest was in further deepening this partnership” (Hipólito; Jorge, 2020, p. 17). Otherwise, Silva (2012, p. 93) emphasizes that the set of international entities

[...] act in a supranational circuit, they are at the service of capital and markets, capture statistical data, establish a pattern of universal for compulsory education. They press and demand from governments the adoption of instruments of large-scale evaluation, under international patterns like the International Program of Students’ Evaluation - PISA.

In Brazil, the process of modernization was carried out in the 1990s when changes, in the form of organization and management of the State, hitherto demarcated by prominent patrimonialism, subjected to modernization of a managerial State, supporting of the globalization process and immersed in “premises of economic liberalization, financial deregulation, alterations [...] in social and labor security and, [...] intensification of privatization processes of public sphere [...]” (Dourado, 2011, p. 25). In turn, the educational reform movement began with the diagnosis produced by the World Bank and by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that pointed a “crisis of efficiency, effectiveness and productivity of the educational system, motivated by the inability of the intervening State to manage educational policies” (Carvalho, 2009, p. 37).

The educational reform process which began after the promulgação of the Federal Constitution of 1988 and it was materialized in the Constitutional Amendment nº 19/1998, incorporated the democratic aspiration of expanding social rights, but it has experienced a sudden shift in favor of the reforms led by the objective of the State modernization, in line with structural adjustments that changed the relation with civil society. “These reforms introduced changes in the financing dynamics of public and social policies, involving the private sector even more in public management” (Oliveira, 2020, p. 86).

Managerial reformista determinations brought the legal regulator safeguard for national educational evaluation standardized in art. 9º, item VI, of LDB nº 9.394 of 1996 (Brasil, 1996). The document attributes to the Union “guaranteeing the national process of school performance evaluation in the fundamental, high and superior school, in collaboration with educational, with the objective of defining priorities and the improvement of the educational quality”. In this regard, school, education and learning are taken as “objectionable, quantifiable and measurable elements, via evaluative processes, validated, reliable and trustworthy, trying to blur imperfections and subjectivities” (Lima, 1997, p. 55-56).

LDB became the instrument destined to redefine aspects established in the Brazilian Constitution of 1988, restructuring the responsibilities and duties, of the State, the Market and the Society with regards to education. It is important to emphasize that this legal elements “fit into a succession of state and municipal policies, whose inspiration is neoliberal, that emphasize the trinomial: productivity, efficiency and total quality” (Dourado, 2008, p. 30). However, it is easy to understand the reason why the external and large-scale school evaluation occupies the highest position in the managerial control status of the regulating State, which was granted as scale loyalty statute and the certification of the national basic education quailty seal.

The attachment between Pisa (OECD) in the management of national education policies

Among national policies, the set of external evaluations is what obtained greater meaning in the consolidation of educational reforms. The “large-scale evaluation in Brazil develops in a world panoramic framework for dissemination of such mechanisms, a contamination provided by organisms and international projects” (Werle, 2010, p. 26), of which, the OECD makes part together with Pisa . This external and triennial evaluation, organized by OECD, it was included into national systems of education, intensifying its protagonism in the countries policies planning process.

The international organisms prerogatives (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean-CEPAL, World Bank, Unesco, Organization of Ibero-American States-OEI and OECD) convince national governments to adopt actions aiming at obtaining indicators, incorporating quality certification, internationally intended. In that regard, Hipólito and Jorge (2020, p. 16) observe that UNESCO played a central role in determining

[...] educational policies in Latin America during 1960s to 1980s, [...] replaced by the growing influence of the World Bank in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. currently, the growing participation of [...] OECD, through the PISA test [...] shows how the influences brought by international organisms are at service of producing a common space, both in the sense of comparability and competition, and in the sense of integration and convergence to a international scale project.

The international inclusion of OECD, “through different instruments, places into circulation that interfere in the form educational systems are conducted around the world, from its pragmatic character, providing data and indicators that allow comparisons and classifications” (Oliveira, 2020, p. 19). “Globalization and the policies of international networks see the authority dispersed beyond the Nation-State or local Community in the educational field, it is observed the great external authority through global control initiatives [...]” (Schultz, 2012, p. 27) influenced by evaluations. It represents the opportunity for “the State to obtain detailed information about the educational system, to carry out intra and intercountries comparisons and make school administrators and employees co-responsible for the results produced” (Schneider; Nardi, 2019, p. 74).

In Brazil, the early decades of the XXI century, increase the affinity of educational policies with “orientations and trends on an international or even Latin-american scale, converging [...] towards consolidation of an evaluation national system, with examinations external to school [...] of the managerial-inspiration accountability model [...]” (Schneider; Nardi, 2019, p. 89). The media utilizes the external evaluations results (national and international), being responsible for producing narratives that when brought to public knowledge, they lead to recurring necessity for reforms when highlighting educational existing chaos, or contrasting good performance public schools with private schools and publishing school success chaos, educational networks and systems (Freitas, 2018).

The “school performance evaluation is a complex field of knowledge” which is present in extensive theoretical debates, composing the national education history (Gatti, 2014, p. 11). As a result, the implementation of the National Assessment System for Basic Education-SAEB, in the early 1990s, was encouraged by 13 years old-students’ participation (from Fortaleza and São Paulo capitals) in the second Evaluation International Program of Educational Proficiency (current Pisa), which welcomed 27 countries at the time. “Inferentially, based on the 2012 results [...] we verified that our performance situation has not changed after 22 years from the first international evaluation” (Gatti, 2014, p. 18) and, whose indicators persist negatively, in the subsequent editions as well.

The evaluation system formalized in SAEB and IDEB, when in line with each other, reveal the Brazilian State regulation ability. Evaluation in basic education is subject to Law nº 13.005/2014, which approved the National Plan for Education -PNE 2014/2024 which predicts, in its Goal 7, funding to “basic education quality in all stages and modalities, with the improvement in school flow and learning in order to reach [...] national averages for Ideb” until the year of 2021 (Brasil, 2014). The same Goal to forward, in strategy 7.11, orientation to “improve the basic education students’ performance in learning evaluations in [...] PISA, taken as an external reference instrument, internationally recognized” and according to projections carried out until 2021. Pisa was incorporated in the PNE policy mediated by actors, ideas, theories, technologies and cultural principles that stimulate educational spaces in Brazil. Such prescriptions place national systems of basic education under the obligation of being in line with the evaluating State, what interferes directly with the school management.

On the other hand, Resolution CNE/CP nº 2-2017 determines the mandatory character for the new National Curricular Common base-BNCC, in order to promote the alignment between educational policies, however, without indicating space for the speech of educational actors. The BNCC regulations approaches the focus on competences and abilities formation for school curriculum for the necessary use in the inclusion of international examinations carried out by OECD “which coordinates the International Program of Students Evaluation (Pisa) and [...] (UNESCO [...]) which established the Latin-american Education Quality Laboratory for Latin America [...]” (Brasil, 2017, p. 13). Before, BNCC adopts the focus of pedagogical decisions aimed at developing competences indicating that students

[...] must ‘know’ [...] knowledge constitution of knowledge, abilities, attitudes and values and [...] what they must ‘learn how to do’ [...] a mobilize these knowledge, abilities, attitudes and values to solve eevery day life complex demands, from the full exercise of citizenship and the world of work [...] (Brasil, 2017, p. 13).

The BNCC guidelines assess a certain degree of normative standadization between the spheres of national education, from prioritization through curricular unification that favors the aplicability of large-scale external evaluations, just as when suggests the development of pedagogical resources and professor training aligned with principles described in the document. It intrinsically inovolves a pragmatic, utilitarian pedagogical approach, aplicable in the business and economic world suitable for the interests of Pisa. Despite not being formally part of the national evaluation system, this examination is integrated due to its consistent administration, due to its regularity, it is integrated into Brazil’s large-scale sample assessment process enabling comparisons of educational level at local, regional and international levels.

The inclusion of Pisa in Brazil’s National Curricular Parameters (PCN) anticipated the relevance of the demands embedded in the objectives of this assessment. The “theoretical framework used in PISA is based on a broad concept of literacy, as advocated by many brazilian authors and underpinning the educational philosophy of the National Curricular Parameters (PCN) [...]” (Brasil, Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anísio Teixeira-INEP, 2001, p. 71). Conversely, Oliveira (2020, p. 94) highlights the significant role of Pisa in “shaping Brazil’s education assessment policy” across various administrations. Inspired by Pisa, the IDEB methodology was designed with a focus on developing high-quality indicators for education. Inep’s political function presentes the Pisa

[...] as a reference model (statistical and epistemological) for the quality of the Brazilian school system. These actions reflect [...] a political intention on the part of Inep to have an internationally recognized benchmark like Pisa and to exert influence over governments and policymakers. By interfering in educational policies in Brazil, the OECD produces a transformation and standardization on the concept of educational quality that is being incorporated in the country (Oliveira, 2020, p. 94).

Similarly, since 1998, the National High School Exam-ENEM, has approached Pisa by presenting a test structured around “skills and abilities associated with traditional contents, [...] and problems related to everyday life. It seeks to evaluate the foundational skills for navigating a world full of information, where comprehension of written text is paramount” (Castro, 2001, p. 83). This clearly demonstrates the alignment of the MEC’s guideline with Pisa criteria and OECD recommendations, beginning with textbooks. Conversely, the inclusion of Pisa as a central element in Brazilian legislation reflects a power relationship and subordination in defining the quality parameters for Brazilian education.

The LDB’s new framework has positioned assessment as a strategic instrument to shape public education policies. As an institution linked to the Ministry of Education, INEP was responsible for implementing Pisa in Brazil, coordinating its application, evaluation and analysis of results, under the guidance of the International Consortium responsible for the Program (Brasil, 2001). Thus, Brazil’s participation in Pisa takes place within this context, with the aim of generating high-quality data, analyzing it competently, and drawing out lessons and policy implications.

Pisa has become the primary global benchmark for assessing educational quality, dynamically influencing power relations in educational management and policy formulation. This has led to the consolidation of a colonialist discourse among students and teachers, reinforcing an education agenda shaped a human capital theory. Consequently, large-scale assessment systems, aligned with Pisa, create a regime of truth that guides educational agendas in various contexts, shaping and controlling the educational policy landscape.

The centrality of Pisa results in driving educational management

The transformations brought about by the managerial accounting paradigm have defined the educational framework according to a corporate and market profile, where the publicization of performance makes education marketable and functional for free market competition. Large-scale assessment serves the purpose of verifying and measuring, as well as standardized publicity aimed at legitimizing quality control for the educational market, after all, advertising is the soul of business in a competitive market. The naturalization in the disclosure of rankings established by large-scale assessment has become a common strategy for improving basic education.

The media channels consolidate as a resource to propagandize national educational results, being empathic in the comparisons that both qualify and disqualify the (de)merit of educational systems and public education networks. Educational rankings are widely disseminated through, with media outlets accelerating the delivery of information to the public and enabling easy access to past publications. There was a high media investment in Brazil, exploring pragmatic and competitive aspects of results tasked with generating technical knowledge about education, aiming at giving versatility and social recognition to external assessments indicated as the solution to school problems.

The corpus of analyzed media documents includes 6 reports produced and released by INEP to provide a technical overview of the Pisa results and of replicating the data announced by the OECD. The remaining documents located in the journalistic media (articles, interviews, News and reports), totaling 105 documents, presente articles related to Pisa performances based on the data released by the OECD, announcing measures positions taken regarding the results of education and the direction of educational policies. The graph below shows a comparison of the documents found.

Graph 1:
Media Documents Found

Among the journalistic documentos 87 articles, 34 interviews, 108 news items, 118 reports and 06 technical reports were captured, totalling 353 objects.

The analysis of documents focusing on the role of international organizations in Brazilian education, was organized by the following conceptual categories: inclusive accessibility and access democratization; educational quality; literacy; school failure; the curriculum and the BNCC, teacher development, school structure and funding; and national education policies. By conducting a documental analysis of the collected sample, we identified conceptual categories that were used as inclusion criteria. This process validated 111 media (31,45%) that directly aligned with our research objectives.

The presentation of the media documents, composed of 105 journalistic objects and 06 national reports, made it possible to identify 57 actions of the national educational management, between 1990s and 2001, with a greater expressiveness for the decade of 2010 to 2019. The actions are recognized by national assessments such as SAEB, IDEB, Prova Brasil, and ANA, as well as through Laws, Decrees, Ordinances, Resolutions, National Curricular Parameters, Programs, Funding Funds, Courses, School Census, Education National Plans, National Common Curricular Base, among other measures. The location of educational management actions originates in journalistic documents, of which 13 are present in the national Pisa reports. The identified actions are specified in the table of national educational management actions, distributed as follows:

• - Decade of 1990 to 1999 - 13 actions (two in 1990, one in 1995, two in 1996, three in 1997, three in 1998 and two in 1999) of which eight are also mentioned in the national Pisa reports;

• - Decade of 2000 to 2009 - 19 actions (two in 2001, three in 2004, five in 2005, three in 2006, four in 2007 and two in 2008) of which five are also mentioned in the national Pisa reports;

• - Decade of 2010 to 2019 - 23 actions (two in 2010, one in 2011, five in 2013, one in 2014, one in 2016, five in 2017, four in 2018, four in 2019) none of which were found in the national Pisa reports;

• - In 2020 and 2021 one action was identified each year, but neither was found in the national Pisa reports.

The actions are related by year of implementation, by the normative policy and legal framework that establishes them, and by a brief description of their specific characteristics.

Table 1:
National Education Management Actions¹

YEAR	POLICY GUIDELINES	SPECIFICITY
1985*	Decree nº 91.542, of 1985 establishes the National Textbook Program, provides for its execution, and takes other measures.	Decree nº 91.542, of of August 19, 1985, replaced the Plidef program with the National Textbook Program (PNLD), introducing several changes. In 1993/1994 criteria for evaluating textbooks were defined with the publication of “Definition of Criteria for Evaluating Textbooks” MEC/FAE/UNESCO and in 1995, the universal distribution of textbooks in elementary education was reinstated.
1990*	The National Basic Education Assessment (SAEB) was Brazil’s pioneering Nationwide effort to comprehensively evaluate its education systems.	To provide support for the formulation, reformulation and monitoring of public policies and intervention programs tailored to the needs identified in the assessed areas and stages of education.
1995*	Direct School Funding Program (PDDE) - Law nº 9766/1998 to Resolution/CD/FNDE nº 10/2013. It establishes the criteria for the transfer and execution of the Direct School Funding Program (PDDE), in compliance with Law 11.9472009.	It was created in 1995 and aims to provide supplementary financial assistance to schools in order to contribute to the maintenance and improvement of physical and pedagogical infrastructure, leading to increased student performance.
1996*	Law nº 9.394/1996 establishes guidelines and bases for national education.	Allows the enrollment in the 9-year elementary education, starting at age six.
1996	Lei nº 9.424/1996 provides for the Maintenance and Development Fund for Basic Education and Valorization of Teachers - FUNDEF	Public policy formulated by the Federal Government aimed at correcting the maldistribution of resources among regions and reducing inequalities in the public education system.
1997	Accelerated Learning Program	Established in 1997 by MEC aiming at correcting grade repetition rates.
1997	National School Library Program (PNBE)	To promote access to culture and encourage reading among students and teachers through the distribution of literary works.
1997*	The PCNs - National Curricular Parameters	Guidelines to guide educators through standardization of fundamental aspects of each subject.
1998*	Curriculum Guidelines in Action Program	To support schools and teachers Nationwide in integrated pedagogical practices with the guidelines and principles of the National Curricular Parameters.
1998*	Ministry of Education Decree MEC nº 438/1998 establishes the National High School Exam - ENEM, a standardized test for high school students in Brazil.	With the aim of evaluating students academic performance upon completion of basic education. In 2009, the exam refined its methodology and began to be used as a mechanism for access to higher education.
1998*	Resolution CEB nº 2/1998 establishes the National Curricular Guidelines for Elementary Education.	They are a set of doctrinal definitions regarding the principles, foundations, and procedures of basic education, as expressed by the Basic Education Chamber of the National Council of Education.
1999	PROFORMAÇÃO was created to comply with the LDB-1996, which stipulates that for all levels of basic education, “only teachers with higher education qualifications or those trained on the job will be admitted.”	The program was funded by FUNDESCOLA, which manages resources from the World Bank. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been a partner of the Distance Education Secretariat (SEED) in the implementation of PROFORMAÇÃO since its launch. From 2002 onwards, the National Fund for Educational Development (FNDE) assumed the financing of the program through an agreement with the Distance Education Secretariat - SEED/MEC.
1999	The FIES was established by Provisional Measure No. 1,827 of May 27, 1999. This measure was subsequently regulated by a series of legal instruments, including MEC Ordinances No. 860 and 1,386/99, as well as CMN Resolution No. 2647. Provisional Measure No. 1,827 underwent several revisions, being reissued as nos. 1,865-2, 1,972-8, and 2,094-22 in 1999 and 2000.	FIES is a student loan program designed to make higher education more accessible to low-income students. The program provides financial assistance for undergraduate studies at private institutions. However, upon graduation, beneficiaries are required to repay the loan. The 2021 FIES model features a multi-tiered structure, offering different financing options.
2001	Law No. 10,172/2001 approved the National Education Plan (NEP). Nine years of elementary education became a progressive goal for national education.	As of the effective date of this Law, the States, the Federal District, and the Municipalities shall, based on the PNE, develop corresponding ten-year plans.
2001	Law No. 10,172/2001 approves the National Education Plan and provides for other measures, culminating in Ordinance No. 82/2017, which regulates the National Basic Education Teacher Training Program (PARFOR), among other legislations.	Since 2009, it has been opening special classes every year in undergraduate teacher education programs and second degree programs, exclusively for public school teachers who do not have a higher education degree in the area in which they teach, as required by the National Education Guidelines and Bases Law (LDB).
2004	Law No. 10,836/2004 establishes the Bolsa Família Program.	Direct cash transfer program targeting families living in poverty and extreme poverty throughout the country.
2004	Law No. 11,096/2005 establishes the ProUni program.	Granting full and partial scholarships to students enrolled in undergraduate and specialized sequential courses at private higher education institutions.
2004	Fundebinho	The Ministry of Education has released R$ 400 million to all states and the Federal District to improve the quality of secondary education in state public schools, while the National Congress has yet to approve the creation of the Basic Education Fund (FUNDEB). Part of the Fundebinho resources was sent by the National Fund for Educational Development (FNDE) to eight states: Maranhão, Piauí, Bahia, Alagoas, Pará, Pernambuco, Ceará, and Sergipe.
2005*	Law No. 11,114/2005 makes it mandatory for six-year-old children to enroll in elementary education.	Amends Articles 6, 30, 32, and 87 of Law No. 9,394/1996, making it mandatory for elementary education to begin at age six.
2005*	Prova Brasil	The Prova Brasil assessment is used to calculate the Índice de Desenvolvimento da Educação Básica (IDEB) at the school, municipal, state, and national levels.”
2005	Brazilian Public Schools Mathematics Olympiad (OBMEP)	Organized by the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA), with the support of the Brazilian Mathematical Society (SBM) and funded by the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications (MCTIC) and the Ministry of Education (MEC).
2005	The two-year ProInfantil program aims to enhance the teaching profession and provide opportunities for professional growth in early childhood education.	It is intended for professionals who work in early childhood education classrooms, in public and private non-profit daycare centers and preschools - community, philanthropic or confessional.
2005	National Program for the Training of Public Basic Education School Managers	It originated from the need to develop school management processes aligned with the concept of social quality in education, drawing on principles of modern public administration and advanced management models.
2006*	Law nº 11.274/2006	Expands elementary education to nine years, with enrollment of six-year-old children, and sets a deadline for implementation by 2010.
2006*	The FUNDEB was created to replace the FUNDEF, established by Constitutional Amendment No. 53/2006 and regulated by Law No. 11.494/2007 and Decree No. 6.253/2007, with a validity period from 2007 to 2020.	The FUNDEB, a special state-level fund, is funded by taxes and transfers from States, the Federal District, and Municipalities and is dedicated to maintaining and developing basic education and valuing education professionals. It is governed by articles 212 and 212-A of the Federal Constitution.
2006	Decree 5.800/2006	“Established the Open University of Brazil (UAB) system”
2007	Decree nº 6094/2007	Outlines the implementation of the All for Education Commitment Goals Plan (PDE), a collaborative effort between the Federal Government, states, the Federal District, and municipalities, with the involvement of families and communities.
2007*	The Basic Education Development Index (IDEB) was created in 2007. Senate Bill No. 299 of 2014 is currently under consideration, which provides for the IDEB and mandates its calculation for all basic education institutions in both the public and private sectors.	It combines the results of two equally important concepts for the quality of education into a single indicator: student flow and average performance in assessments.
2007	Law No. 11.502/2007 established the National Policy for Teacher Training.	To guarantee the quality of teacher training for both current and future public school teachers, while integrating basic and higher education.
2007	Interministerial Ordinance No. 17/2007 and Decree No. 7.083/10 regulate the More Education Program.	MEC strategy for inducing the construction of the full-time education agenda in state and municipal education networks that expands the school day in public schools to at least 7 hours a day, through optional activities in macro-areas.
2008	Basic Education School Census	Law No. 9.394/1996, in its article 5, paragraph 1, item I, and in its article 9, item V, provides for the census of the school-age population of Elementary Education, as well as the analysis and dissemination of information about education by the Union.
2008	Law n° 11.738/2008	Instituted the national professional base salary for public education teachers at the basic level.
2010	Resolution nº 7/2010	Establishes National Curricular Guidelines for 9-year Elementary Education.
2010	CNE/CEB Resolution No. 4/2010 Defines the National Common Curricular Guidelines for Basic Education.	Defines the National Common Curricular Guidelines for the organic, sequential, and articulated set of stages and modalities of Basic Education.
2011	Decree No. 7.642/2011 Establishes the Science Without Borders Program.	Science Without Borders is a program that seeks to promote the consolidation, expansion, and internationalization of Brazilian science and technology, innovation, and competitiveness through international exchange and mobility.
2013	Law No. 12.796/2013 amends Law No. 9.394/1996, which establishes the guidelines and bases of national education, to provide for the training of education professionals and other measures.	Expands compulsory and free basic education from 4 to 17 years of age, organized as follows: preschool, elementary school, and high school.
2013	National Pact for the Strengthening of High School, instituted by Ordinance No. 1.140/2013.	Represents the articulation and coordination of actions and strategies between the Union and state and district governments in the formulation and implementation of policies to raise the standard of quality of Brazilian high school education.
2013	Law No. 12.80/2013 creates a national framework for ensuring that all children learn to read and write by the end of elementary school.	The main axis of the pact was the offer of continuous training courses for 360 thousand literacy teachers, with permanent tutoring and the help of 18 thousand study guides trained in 36 public universities. The MEC also distributed more than 60 million textbooks, in addition to pedagogical games.
2013	National Literacy Assessment.	The ANA was created with the National Pact for Literacy at the Appropriate Age (PNAIC), launched in 2012. The results were used by the MEC to establish new educational strategies for the literacy cycle from the first to the third year of elementary school.
2013	Movement for the National Common Base	“A collaborative network of individuals and institutions working to enhance the quality of the BNCC and the New High School since 2013”
2014	Law No. 13.005/2014 approves the National Education Plan 2014-2024	The PNE was enacted after four years of processing in the National Congress. This Plan aims to improve education in the country based on 20 goals, which must be achieved in 10 years.
2016	Constitutional Amendment No. 95/2016	It limits public spending for 20 years, aiming to balance the accounts through a strict spending mechanism. Education will receive 18% of tax revenue.
2017	BNCC- Resolution CNE/CP No. 2, of December 22, 2017	It establishes and guides the implementation of the National Common Curricular Base, to be mandatorily followed throughout all stages and modalities within Basic Education.
2017	Law No. 13.415/2017 amended the National Guidelines and Bases for Education Law and established a change in the structure of high school.	It increases the minimum annual student school hours from 800 to 1,000 (by 2022) and establishes a new, more flexible curricular organization that includes a National Common Curriculum and offers students various choice options, such as formative itineraries, focusing on knowledge areas and technical and professional training.
2017	Decree No. 9.099/2017 established the National Program for Books and Teaching Materials (PNLD).	It unified the acquisition and distribution actions of textbooks and literary works, previously covered by the National Textbook Program (PNLD) and the National School Library Program (PNBE).
2017	Decree No. 9.204/2017 established the Connected Education Innovation Program. Ordinance No. 1.591/2017 established the Committee of the Integrated Platform of Digital Educational Resources - REDs. Ordinance No. 1.602/2017 provides for the implementation, together with municipal, state and Federal District basic education networks, of the actions of the Connected Education Innovation Program, established by Decree No. 9.204/2017.	The goal of the Connected Education Innovation Program is to support the universalization of access to high-speed internet and to promote the pedagogical use of digital technologies in basic education. Some of the actions promoted by the Program are: to contribute to ensuring that the school environment is prepared to receive the internet connection; to provide teachers with the opportunity to learn about new educational content; and to provide students with contact with new educational technologies.
2017	The MEC Ordinance No. 1.144/2016 and FNDE Resolution No. 17/2017 create the New More Education Program.	MEC strategy aimed at improving learning in Portuguese language and mathematics in elementary school by optimizing students’ time spent at school.
2018	Law 13.696/18, which establishes the National Policy for Reading and Writing.	The policy will have as its guidelines the universalization of the right to access books, reading, writing, literature, and libraries.
2018	Ordinance No. 142/2018 creates the More Literacy Program.	MEC strategy to strengthen and support schools in the process of literacy for students regularly enrolled in the 1st and 2nd years of elementary school.
2018	Guide to Implementing Brazil’s Common National Curriculum	Its elaboration involved the participation of several specialists, a process of national mobilization led by the National Council of State Secretaries of Education (CONSED), the National Union of Municipal Education Managers (UNDIME), and the Ministry of Education (MEC).
2018	Ordinance 38/2018.	To ensure the continuity of PIBID in the improvement of teacher training for basic education and the valorization of undergraduate courses.
2019	Decree No. 9,765/2019 instituted the National Literacy Policy (NLP).	The formulation of the PNA arose from an initiative of the Ministry of Education to enhance literacy processes in Brazil and their results.
2019	Science is a 10!	It is a distance learning course, with quality assurance provided by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) and certification from the Ministry of Education (MEC).
	Decree 10.004/19 established the PECIM - The National Program of Civil-Militar Schools. Ordinance nº 2.015/2019 regulated the implementation of the National Program of Civil-Militar Schools - PECIM - in 2020, to consolidate the model Civil-Militar School - ECIM and Ordinance nº 40/2021 changes Ordinance nº 1.071/2020, which regulates the implementation of the National Program of Civil-Militar Schools - PECIM in 2021, to implement National Program of Civil-Militar Schools - ECIM in states, towns and in the Federal District.	The National Civic-Military Schools Program is an initiative of the Ministry of Education, in partnership with the Ministry of Defense, which presents a management concept in the educational, didactic-pedagogical, and administrative areas with the participation of the school’s teaching staff and support from the military. The proposal is to implement 216 Civic-Military Schools across the country by 2023, at a rate of 54 per year. The model to be implemented by the Ministry of Education aims to improve the teaching-learning process in schools.
2019	Ordinance Nº 1.938/2019 established the Education in Practice Program.	The MEC launched the Education in Practice Program. It is about na 6 and 9-year students of the Fundamental Education and High School together with public and private superior education institutions.
2020	Resolution CNE/CP nº 1/2020	National Curricular Guidelines for the Continuing Education of Basic Education Teachers and establishes the National Common Base for the Continuing Education of Basic Education Teachers (BNC-Continuing Education).
2021	Ordinance No. 10/2021 establishes the parameters and general guidelines for the implementation of the new Basic Education Assessment System (SAEB), within the scope of the National Policy for Basic Education Assessment.	The SAEB will undergo technical and pedagogical adjustments to implement the advances of the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC) along with the National Curricular Guidelines (DCNs), the National Literacy Policy (PNA), and the new High School.

• Source: The research authors

Media reports demonstrate the significant role that international organizations play in shaping national education policies, particularly in response to the results of the PISA assessments. These organizations promote a commitment at the national level to align educational policies with the guidelines set forth by the OECD, with the ultimate goal of improving education quality. This relationship between Brazil and the OECD has been in place since the 1990s. Also, they allow us to understand the effect of political actions through which a greater commitment to the standardization of actions aimed at the control and monitoring of education is identified, which is responsible for perpetuating and widening gaps in educational disparity.

The mediatization of results leads to the belief in the poor quality and fragility of public education. It is in this context that new magic formulas are produced to qualify individuals for consumption in the labor market. Educational policies are focused on enabling a uniform curricular structure throughout Brazil, preparing students through training for the results of large-scale assessments. Educational quality becomes nothing more than a meritocratic incentive for a select group of individuals, selected and prepared for the dictates of the economic development of globalization.

An analysis of media documents reveals how commercializable the guidelines of educational policies have become. These policies drive an instructional project for individuals, aimed at the formation of human capital, suitable for the conditions required by the globalized economic environment and adapted to education by international agencies.

Considerations

Upon concluding the partial presentation of this research, it becomes possible to consider that the changes installed in the forms of organization and management of the State were effective due to the adoption of a managerial public administration, favorable to external evaluation, with a certifying status of basic education, even in the face of national governments with political ideologies distinct from neoconservatives. The transformations of the State’s structure had a single purpose which was to reclaim the networks of capitalism, on a global level, to the detriment of the welfare state. Public administration and national education are being reconceptualized following the productivist criteria of businesses, efficiency, and effectiveness, determined by technical and rational modernization, in which individuals are defined as human capital available for consumption by potential clients. The economic market exerts regulation and standardization of the strategic, structural, and morphological changes of educational organizations, ensured by regulations that focus on economic development.

Neoliberalism, spurred by globalization in the late 20th century, implemented a series of reforms that guided the accounting paradigm. In education, this paradigm has sought to transform individuals and society, including in Brazil, with the stated goal of national development. The State, moved by the economy growth attempt, at a time when the universalization of education did not have the effect of qualifying the great mass of students (the quantity of students enrolled in schools did not mean educational quality), it appeals to quality control via large-scale evaluations, supported by the legal authorization of LDB 9394/1996 (Brasil, 1996). The law installs external evaluative rules, also destined to the several educational systems of the country.

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• SUPPORT/FUNDING
  Not applicable.

• 1
  * These are educational management actions also mentioned in the national PISA results reports.

• AVAILABILITY OF RESEARCH DATA
  All data were generated/analyzed in this article.
• HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE
  SILVEIRA, Carmem Lucia Albrecht da; ESQUINSANI, Rosimar Serena Siqueira. The national education management through the protagonism of large-scale assessments of Pisa. Educar em Revista, Curitiba, v. 40, e93496, 2024. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1984-0411.93496

Data availability

All data were generated/analyzed in this article.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  06 Dec 2024
• Date of issue
  2024

History

• Received
  23 Nov 2023
• Accepted
  01 Aug 2024