I would like to discuss the very common idea that international publication is an absolute indicator of quality of research.
As educational researchers we have to look at the reality of our educational system. There we have serious problems. In successive editions of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Portuguese students are regularly scored in the bottom of the ranking, considering literacy in reading, mathematics and science. Teachers’ practices don’t seem to be in a good direction to overcome this situation and in primary school the students’ books of Portuguese, Environment Study and Mathematics have very low quality. They repeat the same errors for a long time as well as the same traditional pedagogy; nobody supervise their quality.
Teachers need to be helped to improve their practices, they need good teaching guides based on classroom research and they need a good picture of new ways of teaching as well as of its learning results. And this has to be written in Portuguese: for portuguese schools, teachers and students. It’s a national urgency to do this work, specially in primary school.
The chief question is: who has this responsibility?
On my view we have a big responsibility. We can eventually publish a lot of papers in international reviews and surely this is a good way to go up in the academic career. But these papers will have no impact on schools, teachers and students; no impact on traditional low level students’ literacy.
As educational researchers we have to look at the reality of our educational system. There we have serious problems. In successive editions of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Portuguese students are regularly scored in the bottom of the ranking, considering literacy in reading, mathematics and science. Teachers’ practices don’t seem to be in a good direction to overcome this situation and in primary school the students’ books of Portuguese, Environment Study and Mathematics have very low quality. They repeat the same errors for a long time as well as the same traditional pedagogy; nobody supervise their quality.
Teachers need to be helped to improve their practices, they need good teaching guides based on classroom research and they need a good picture of new ways of teaching as well as of its learning results. And this has to be written in Portuguese: for portuguese schools, teachers and students. It’s a national urgency to do this work, specially in primary school.
The chief question is: who has this responsibility?
On my view we have a big responsibility. We can eventually publish a lot of papers in international reviews and surely this is a good way to go up in the academic career. But these papers will have no impact on schools, teachers and students; no impact on traditional low level students’ literacy.
It's necessary to promote an educational research paradigm anchored on transforming praxis. This is very time-consuming. You eventually need to work in full time for 4/5 years to produce a book really grounded in classroom research an at the end you have a unique “national publication”. That means, following FCT policy, that you are not a good researcher: low production (only one product!) and bad quality (“national”!). Then you don’t deserve to be financially supported by FCT.
On my view a policy of evaluation of educational research specially focused on international publication may be very harmful for the less developed educational systems. This policy tends to keep academics away from the reality of their countries and it is unfair on those who do a choice of compromise with the country. Brilliant international intellectuals leave their own people in its traditional delay.
The exterior imposition of such roles on poor countries is a kind of colonization – national energy and power is removed from what is necessary to do considering the country development. On the other side, the internal acceptance and promotion of these roles without discussion is a kind of provincialism.
Something have to change in FCT policy of evaluation!
Algumas ideias que expressei na reunião com Painel de Avaliação da FCT do centro de investigaçao a que pertenço, em 10/01/08.
1 comentário:
MUITO BEM!
Enviar um comentário