External evaluation of schools, peer regulation, collaborative work, and educational quality: What is the relationship?

• Main Author: Miranda, Helena Maria Cerqueira Gonçalves
• Publication Date: 2023
• Other Authors: Seabra, Filipa, Pacheco, José Augusto
• Format: Article
• Language: por
• Source: Práxis Educativa (Online)
• Download full: https://revistas.uepg.br/index.php/praxiseducativa/article/view/21863

The External Evaluation of Schools (EES) in Portugal focuses, in its current III Cycle, on the improvement processes sustained in teaching practices and introduces the concept of “regulation and collaborative work”. Thus, this study aimed to understand how this nomenclature was translated, by the EES teams, in their reports. The investigation, based on a descriptive, interpretative, content analysis methodology, having ten EES reports as analysis corpus, highlighted the ambiguity of the expression “peer regulation” and showed, among other results, the existence of active practices of teaching collaboration, considered added-value for the educational quality of their schools, but also limitations. Among these, the focus was on the difficulty in assuming collaboration as an essential path, being, in most of the reports analysed, a factor in need of improvement. It was concluded that collaborative work practices need more time to be implemented and that the concept of peer regulation needs to be discussed and clarified in school. Keywords: External Evaluation of Schools. Peer regulation. Collaborative work.