EVALUATION PRACTICES AND PEDAGOGICAL CONCEPTIONS USED BY TEACHERS OF THE MECHANICAL TECHNICAL COURSE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT FEDERAL INSTITUTE

Abstract

School cannot be detached from life, from the world that surrounds it; need to be in tune with the community and the time you live. In this sense, evaluation is a necessary and permanent didactic task, and it must follow the process of teaching and learning step by step. Thus, this paper aimed at identifying instruments and techniques used by the Mechanical Technical Course teachers of the Federal Institute of Espírito Santo – Ifes in order to evaluate their students as well as verifying the pedagogical concepts that support their teaching practice. We also intended to ascertain if the teachers are informed about the theoretical foundations that guide the learning assessment proposal of the course. The methodology consisted on a quantitative and qualitative case study, also exploratory and descriptive. The instrument adopted was a duly validated structured questionnaire with closed and open questions, with a sample of 57 (fifty-seven) teachers. Data analysis was descriptive, through the use of absolute and relative frequency tables. The results revealed that the group of teachers often applies a diversity of techniques/instruments, among which we can highlight: academic papers (82,5%); mixed tests (77,2%); essay tests (61,4%); objective tests (54,4%); and seminars (50,9%). Concerning the pedagogical conceptions adopted by the teachers, 52,6% opts for the technicist, whereas 40,4% for the modern humanist and 31,6% for the traditional humanist. When considering the teaches’ knowledge on the evaluation system applied on the referred course, 50,9% of the participants informed that they have a fully understanding of it, whereas 49,1% showed partial knowledge. To sum up, after analyzing the results, it was possible to conclude that the evaluation practices as well as the pedagogical conceptions adopted in this course need to be further worked by the Ifes group of educators for a practice with greater discussion with teachers about this theme.