IGEC recognizes failure in the 12th year Portuguese exam and classifying teachers report technical difficulties in the new digital correction platform. There are retired teachers correcting exams and teachers called for subjects that do not correspond to their area.
The first phase of the national exams ended in controversy. The IGEC recognizes an “objective flaw” in the preparation of the 12th year national Portuguese exam, after a question from Group III showed strong similarities with an exercise from a Leya Educação manual.
The audit found no evidence of deliberate copying or security flaws, but pointed out weaknesses in verification procedures when there are changes to test items, according to .
In parallel, classifying teachers report technical difficulties in the new digital platform for correcting national exams, which will have prevented the effective start of classification of several tests. Anxiety among teachers, students and families is increasing.
The controversial question
The undeniable similarity between a question on the 12th year Portuguese exam and an exercise published in a preparation manual was the first controversy in this first phase.
The General Inspectorate of Education and Science (IGEC), called by the Minister of Education, Science and Innovation, Fernando Alexandre, to audit the case of the Portuguese exam, recognized the existence of an “objective failure” that compromised the rigor required for a process of this nature.
At issue is the question from Group III, which asked students to prepare a critical comment, between 200 and 350 words, based on the cartoon “Child Labor”, by Iranian artist JJ Takjoo. The problem arose when several students and teachers identified similarities between this question and an exercise included in an exam preparation manual published by Leya Educação.
Despite recognizing the flaw, IGEC concluded that no evidence of deliberate intention to replicate previously published material was found. According to information released by the Ministry, the coincidence seems to result from the fact that this type of manual is often inspired by the exam models themselves made available over the years by the entities responsible for external evaluation. The audit also did not detect violations of security, confidentiality or secrecy rules.
The explanation provided by EduQA, the entity that currently coordinates external assessment and national exams, is related to a change made at an advanced stage of the test design. The image initially planned for Group III would have been replaced as it did not guarantee full accessibility for students with color blindness. At this stage, the responsible team did not carry out further research on the publishing market to check whether the new item had already been used or published in supporting materials. This was the main procedural weakness identified by IGEC.
The Ministry had already acknowledged, before the audit findings were released, that the use of an image previously published in an exercise book represented a failure that should have been avoided. However, the technical opinion requested from EduQA considered that the situation did not affect equity between students.
The justification presented is that written production competence results from learning developed throughout the school career and cannot be acquired just by solving an exercise with similar or even identical stimulus.
Classifiers report failures
The controversy did not end with the Portuguese question. Classifying teachers denounce constraints in the new digital correction process for national high school exams.
According to the Missão Escola Pública movement, teachers still did not receive digitized items for classification several days after the scheduled start date of work. The Portuguese exam, the first to be carried out at this stage, was also the first to expose the difficulties of the new platform.
The Ministry of Education recognized delays and “technical difficulties”ensuring that they were being resolved. Still, the movement claims that the problems extend to other subjects and that, in practice, the digital classification of national exams has not yet taken off in the expected manner. Among the questions raised are the status of the digitization of tests, the quality control of this process, the IT management of the platform and the distribution of items among the classifiers.
The initial calendar predicted that Portuguese teachers would begin correcting tests on June 23rd. Given the delays, the Ministry adjusted the deadline for submitting classifications to July 10maintaining, for now, the release of the notes on July 14th. These dates are seen as particularly sensitive, as exam scores are essential for applying to the national competition for access to higher education, which begins the following week.
In addition to technical failures, there are reports of summons sent to retired teachers, teachers called for subjects that do not correspond to their area and tests delivered in unexpected formats or routes.
