The debut of the digital classification of national exams was marked by delays, exchanges of tests, technical difficulties and incorrect calls for teachers — which the Government attributes, in part, to the information sent by schools.
One deceased teacher was summoned to classify the national Physics-Chemistry A exam, in Figueira da Foz, in one of the most unusual episodes associated with the new digital classification process for secondary education tests, which the National Examinations Jury admits is in a “recovery phase” after “some technical difficulties“.
The case, advanced by , joins other flaws reported by teachers in various parts of the country.
In Oliveira de Azeméis, a teacher assigned to correct Portuguese tests received Economics A exams to classify. In Lisbon, according to , a teacher of Geology was called to classify French exams.
The 1st phase of the national exams took place between June 16th and 26th. This year the big news is in the classification model: students continue to answer by hand, but in specific sheets that are then scannedso that the correction can be made in digital format.
The process, however, has been marked by delays, errors in call notices and technical problems in distributing tests to classifiers, note a.
The National Examinations Jury explained, in a statement published on the website of the Institute of Education, Quality and Assessment, that the preparation of national exams for digital classification is “in the recovery phase”.
The JNE added that it has already started to do “adjustments to the schedule” and guaranteed that each exam code will have a classification period equivalent to the usual one, “typically ten working days”, maintaining the final classification deadline on July 10. The grades for the 1st phase must be known on July 14. The 2nd phase of national exams takes place between July 16 and 22.
Failures have caused criticism of union structures. Fenprof classified the situation as revealing the “failure of the reorganization of the Ministry of Education” and pointed out, in addition to delays, problems such as incomplete responses, missing pages and technical anomalies which, according to classifiers, are repeated in a generalized way.
Teachers heard by CM attribute some of the confusion to changes introduced by the Institute for Educational Assessment.
A director of a group of schools in Viseu, who did not want to be identified, told the newspaper that the institute “no longer have teachers dealing with exam corrections and now has technicians“, adding that “the confusion is general and no one understands each other”.
The Ministry of Education, through the National Examinations Jury, sends part of the responsibility for schools. The organization emphasizes that it is the responsibility of educational establishments indicate the specific conditions of each teacher and ensure JNE groups have accurate information about teacher availability.
It is also up to schools to communicate medical leaves, relevant situations and remove retired teachers from the lists.
The Government argues that the quality of information provided by schoolss is decisive for the correct preparation of the notices and remembers that, every year, there are nonconformities identified in these lists.
Despite the flaws, the executive guarantees that the results will be released within the defined deadlines.
