Answers to Conference Issues from Portugal

Currently Portuguese national final examination achieves both aims, although Universities have the possibility of creating other entrance examinations.

Students´ final grade in the end of secondary education is the weighted average between internal assessment (70%) and external assessment (30%).

Some of the external examinations are taken into account as specific subject examinations required by each department/university. The final mark for University entrance is the average between the marks students get in these examinations and the final grade in the end of secondary education

1.2. The final examination as an intermediary between secondary and higher education and/or a pathway to occupation and employment

The national final examination has the main purpose of certifying completion of secondary education (12th grade). For the most part, students who finish this level of education aim at going on to tertiary education.

1.3. The individual achievement at the final examination as a selection criterion for admission to higher education (e.g. in the event of the numerus clausus)

In fact there are numerus clausus in Portugal, and the grades that students obtain in the national final examination are one of the criteria for admission to higher education.

Besides these grades, the pre-requisites (of physical, functional or vocational nature) established by some Universities or Polytechnic Institutes are also considered as a criterion in the selection of candidates.

ISSUE 2. Compulsory and Optional subjects in the final exams

2.1. Number of compulsory and optional subjects and the aim of such division

As already mentioned in the short description of Secondary Education, the curricula in this level are organised according to four study areas: 1. Science; 2. Arts; 3. Social-Economics; 4. Humanities.

The only subject in which all students, whatever their study area, have to take a final (national) exam is Portuguese Language. Besides this, each student has to take in average four exams in different subjects, according to the study area and to the chosen subjects.

2.2. Breath vs. Depth of the examination

Blueprints for each examination are based on the instruments (curriculum, programmes) that are designed by the Ministry of Education and given to schools. The subject matter considered for each examination is relative to only one school year (12th grade for the most part; two exceptions in the cases where the subject is terminal in the 11th grade).

2.3.Role of mathematics and foreign language(s)

Up to now, every student has to take both mathematics and foreign language in this level of education. Mathematics is a compulsory subject in the final national exam for study areas 1. And 3. (Science and Social-Economics). In study areas 2. And 4. (Arts and Humanities) Maths can be replaced by "Métodos Quantitativos" (the contents have to do with statistics), which is taught only in one of the three years of secondary education and is not subject to a national final examination.

As for foreign languages, every student of all study areas has to take at least one foreign language in the 10th and 11th grades, not subject to a national final exam. In some courses, students learn two languages, of which at least one is subject to a national final exam.

2.4. Optional subjects: only academic or others in addition?

Besides the academic subjects, schools can offer a number of optional subjects, of a more practical nature, not subject to a national final exam.

2.5. Effects on class teaching - Are there "(de)privileged subjects"?

Until now, as students have to be assessed in every subject, there are no deprivileged subjects.

2.6. Are students prepared for various levels (standard, higher levels)?

Different exams exist only for Foreign Languages, according to the number of years of study and the number of hours per week.

In the subject Portuguese Language, there are two different syllabuses: Portuguese A (for the study area Humanities) and Portuguese B (for the other study areas). The literary contents of Portuguese A are more developed, so the exams are also different.

We should however stress that exams vary according to years of study or study area. There are no "various levels" of exams in the British understanding of the expression.

ISSUE 3: Assessment and Certification of Achievement

3.1. The definition of national standards (if defined)

As mentioned in 2.2. the relative relevance of subject matters and competencies are defined in the instruments that the Ministry of Education provides to schools. Up to now there is no deeper definition of standards.

3.2. What is to be measured: knowledge alone or also other skills and abilities?

For the moment, there are only written examinations. But it is not only knowledge, in a restricted sense, that is being assessed. For instance, in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry there are problem-solving items; in languages (mother or foreign) there is a range of abilities covered: interpretation, inference, argumentation, and so on.

3.3. Assessment of different levels of examination

Different levels of examination, as pointed out in 2.6. correspond to different allocation of time or study area in secondary education. Consequently, there is no equating of grades.

ISSUE 4: External and/or Internal (School-based) final examinations

External examinations (national final examinations) are designed and made by GAVE (Educational Testing Office/Ministry of Education), according to the instruments that are given to schools by DES (Department for Secondary Education, Ministry of Education) for each subject, both in terms of contents and relative relevance of subject/competencies.

Schools and students are provided with some additional information about these examinations during the first part of the school year, namely: I ) a general structure of the test; and II ) a model of a test with the corresponding marking guide.

In the school year 1999/2000, schools will be provided this information on the very first day of the school year (September).

All the models and previous versions of national final examination tests (1998/1999) are available in GAVE´s Internet site (www.gave.pt)

Schools are responsible for the internal assessment during the school year. At 10th and 11th grades there are also school-based tests to assess students.

4.2. Reasons for the selected type of examination

The issue of equity among students is the main reason for the existence of external (national) final examinations. It also helps the system to monitor student achievement within the country.

4.3. The proportional weighting between external and internal assessment and the aim of such division.

As already pointed out in the short description of Secondary Education in Portugal, the final grading of subjects is calculated on basis of the marks obtained at school level in a given subject (Internal summative assessment) and in the 12th year final examination (External summative assessment). The proportion is 7 to 3 respectively, thus giving more weight to internal than to external summative assessment.

The formula to calculate the final grading in a given subject is the following:

        7 FIG + 3 FEG
 FGS = ---------------
             10

The reason is that the final examination, being one "isolated" act, should not have so much weight as the assessment, formative and internal/summative, carried out by people in a continuous contact with students over a period of time that can go up to three years.

4.4 The advantages and deficiencies of external and internal examinations

External examinations:
Advantages were mentioned in 4.2.

What has also happened is that teaching has been impacted by them. Teachers are now more conscious of the impact their work has on their students´ future. Marks are now only dependent on their appreciation.

Problems:

We have some constraints on teaching that may be negative. Teachers may tend to teach strictly for the examination, leaving other components out, and running quickly through the programme, irrespectively of differences among students.

Nevertheless, in the current Portuguese school system, we think the advantages largely overpass the problems that external examinations can bring along.

Internal examinations:

Advantages: I) more prone to assess what each teacher may teach; II) more sensitive to other components of learning and teaching processes (e.g. experiments in Physics and Chemistry); III) more adequate to assess different routes in learning within the same class.

Problems:

Equity is a problem if there is much diversity in terms of standards and of teachers´ understanding of relevance of distinct contents and competencies.

4.5.

Already mentioned above.

ISSUE 5: The organisation of the final examination

The organisation of final examinations is a joint responsibility of GAVE (Educational Testing Office), JNE (a jury composed of representatives of the Department for Secondary Education and of schools at the regional level), IGE (Inspectorate) and the schools´ examinations commissions.

GAVE is responsible for the conception and development of examinations:

JNE is responsible for the general organisation of the process of test administration and grading of papers.

IGE is responsible for monitoring the process of examinations.

Schools´ examination commissions are responsible for the organisation of the process within each school.

5.1. The start dates and duration of the final examination: one or more examination sessions per year?

The period for mainstream students examinations is June (more or less 17th) through September (more or less 14th). This period covers three possible sessions for the same examination -two in June/July and one in September. The student has to choose either June or July for each examination; if he/she fails, he/she can take a second version in September. For Army people (when volunteers or under contract) and athletes (when not on their compulsory military service) can benefit from another opportunity in February of the following year.

5.2. The design of question papers

GAVE develops tests. This Office was set up in 1997 and was given the responsibility for external examinations. There are 20 specialists who co-ordinate the process of test development in their own knowledge area (Mother language, German, English, French, Spanish, Latin and Old Greek languages, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, Environmental Sciences, Biology, Philosophy, History, Geography, Arts, Design, Communication, digital systems, Sociology, Psychology and Law). Besides these, there are two specialists in assessment.

The process is the same for each of the 90 distinct examinations for secondary education that are made for each session. All in all, GAVE produces about 600 examination tests per school year.

Each of the 20 knowledge area co-ordinators works with a team of authors and of consultants in association with the 2 assessment specialists. They work a test blueprint based on the current curriculum and syllabi. Tests and marking guides are then constructed. The resulting instruments are presented to 2 auditors who give the co-ordinator feedback. Finally, a linguistic specialist is consulted. The process ends with a final revision, so that "tipo" mistakes are accounted for as much as possible

Consultants and auditors are, in general, university teachers and other people with a high degree of specialisation within each area. GAVE has protocols with several universities. About 300 people are involved in the process.

5.3. The time available for grading papers

Each teacher in charge for grading the papers gets up to 50 papers and has, in average, 6 days to correct them.

5.4. Regulations for sitting examinations and the invigilation of examinations

There is a Regulation of exams which sets the general norms and conditions of admission; there also are other specific instructions for the examination process: enrolment, sitting, invigilation, correction and grading (Some examples: students´ places in the room, criteria for solving unusual problems which may arise during the time allocated to the examination test and so on).

Specifically in what concerns invigilation: Two teachers are appointed to be present in the room where exams are being held. There also is a teacher, specialised in the area of the test, who is the only one who can help students if any understanding problem arises.

5.5. Is grading part of teachers´ workload or is it paid separately (If so, how much -in Euro)

In principle, the task of grading exams is part of teachers´ workload, since they cannot refuse to do it. However, he/she receives a (symbolic) monetary compensation for this extra work (4 Euro per paper).

5.6. The role of external assessors (experts, teachers, university teachers…)

This information was given in 5.2.

5.7. Regulations and provision for students with special needs

There are regulation and provision for students with special needs. The Department for Secondary Education defines a number of guidelines to be followed concerning specific aspects to be taken in account when a student with special needs sits for an examination. The same assessment instrument may be adapted to the special need, case by case. For instance, students with ear impairment may sit for school-based examinations, may have the support of specialists in that kind of impairment in their examination of Portuguese Language; there are tests in Braille, and so on. It should be noted that the student's impairment is never mentioned in the "pautas de exame", that is the lists with names and marks obtained which are made public.

5.8.

Students have the right to present complaints about the grade obtained in the final national examination of any subject:

1. They request to have access to their written paper and sub-marks given to each item answered; they will have access to it within the 2 days after their request;
   
2. If they think there is ground for it, they can ask for a revision of the written test and the grade obtained, specifying the answers they think are undergraded and their reasons for thinking so;
   
3. The revision of the answers/grades in the test questioned by the student (and only those) is made by a teacher nominated by the JNE who, after the revision, proposes a mark (less, more or the same as the original one), specifying the reasons for doing so;
   
4. The President of the JNE homologues the new grade;
   
5. The student has the right to request a second revision.