Primary school children “must take tests on computers” – ministry
Teachers today are holding symbolic protests at Portugal’s principal mainland airports (Porto, Lisbon, Beja and Faro in the Algarve) to ‘show tourists this is a country that doesn’t value education, and is pushing teachers to move abroad’.
Almost on cue, another controversy has hit the sector – again uniting teachers, parents and school directors against the government.
This time it is the education’s ministry’s insistence that assessment tests (provas de aferição) taken by 2nd year primary school children – children as young as 7 – must be performed on computers.
This is the first time the State has made such a demand, and teachers particularly believe it will do nothing for pupils’ self-esteem.
Said one to Correio da Manhã, “the tests require them to master digital media in full and they can’t because they are too small. This will completely destroy these students’ self-esteem”.
Appeals have already gone out over social media to boycott the tests, which at this early stage in children’s education, do not count for whether or not they move up a grade.
“On (test) days children should stay at home”, advises one teacher over social media, calling for “total boycott. Teachers and parents”.
As another teacher explained to Correio da Manhã, children should have had time before this was decided to work on ‘interactive school manuals’. These would enable them to gently progress to digital media.
“This is like starting with the roof when building a house. It has everything for going wrong” Filinto Lima, president of the association of directors of school groupings admitted.
Mr Lima explained that the plan threatens “a break in terms of the evolution of (children’s) handwriting” and, in his opinion, “doesn’t benefit anyone”.
Parents interviewed by Diário de Notícias feel very much the same. One told DN: “We spend all our time telling our children that they can’t spend so much time in front of screens, and then the school rows in the opposite direction. I know they already use technologies and I’m not against that, as long as they do it with a pedagogical objective, and not with this intensity. Already in 1st grade, my daughter has one day a week when she has to take her computer to school instead of books. I think it’s nonsense and perfectly absurd.”
Social media posts by parents are going viral with hashtags ranging from #tretas (meaning rubbish) #somosmesmopequeninos (we are very small), #maniadamodernicevaidosa (mania for conceited modernism) and quite a bit that isn’t printable. Many are agreeing that they won’t be sending their children to school on upcoming test days.
One comment suggests: “Parents who let their children do these tests are colluding with nonsense. We are parents, not robots. It’s enough having to put up with the nonsense of the economy without subjecting such young children to this worthless circus. No thank you!
Says CM, the education ministry believes its plan allows for the “simultaneous assessment of reading, writing and digital skills, allowing the main areas of difficulty for students to be identified”.
Another reason for the decision is reportedly to contribute to the ‘de-bureaucratisation of teachers’ work’ (albeit teachers appear not to have been consulted for their opinions).
UPDATE: Since uploading this text, a petition has been started, calling for the ‘digital format’ of these tests to be scrapped. It has so far gathered over 2,000 signatures.
