External assessments

implications for pedagogical work in teaching Natural Sciences

Abstract

Assessments have occupied centrality in the agendas of the country's education networks in these first decades of the 21st century. The qualitative approach research aims to investigate the implications of external assessments in the pedagogical work of Natural Science Teaching teachers to reflect the assessment of learning and the teaching-learning process. Thus, the data were obtained from a semi-structured interview with high school teachers from four public basic education schools in the city of Pelotas-RS. The content analysis indicated four categories, namely: i) external assessments and pedagogical practices in Science Teaching; ii) external assessments and Science Teaching; iii) external assessments and learning assessment; and, iv) external assessments and teachers. The results indicate that these assessments are ubiquitous in schools, serving to guide pedagogical work actions, and may lead to curricular reductionism. From the analysis it is noted that these assessments take on a political dimension based on accountability, supervision and control.