ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE MUNICIPAL EDUCATION NETWORK OF MOSSORÓ – RN: EVALUATION THAT TEACHERS MAKE OF THESE POLICIES
Accountability. External assessments. Teacher's work. Accountability
This study aims to analyze how teachers in the municipal network of Mossoró-RN assess
accountability policies. It is characterized as a qualitative research (Yin, 2016), assisting in
reflecting on the social reality in which the investigation is inserted, through the
representation of teachers' perspectives. The organization, treatment, and analysis of data
were carried out through the Content Analysis technique (Bardin, 2011). The procedures used
include bibliographic analysis, conducted from readings of dissertations and theses from the
Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (BDTD) and articles on the Periodicals
Portal of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES),
crossing the descriptors: accountability and teacher. Then, documentary analysis, in which
data collection was based on official documents from the municipal sphere of Mossoró-RN:
Quality School Award decree no. 3,546/2009 and Law no. 3,001/2012; the Educational
Responsibility Law (Law no. 2,710/2010); the Municipal Education Plan (2015-2025); Law
no. 3,704, of March 13, 2019, which establishes the Education Assessment System (SIAVE)
and the Mossoró City Education IDEB Award (Law no. 4,041/2023). As strategies for
choosing the schools and teachers who were part of this research, a survey of data from the
Basic Education Development Index (IDEB) was carried out, referring to the 5th year of
Initial Elementary School, as well as the geographical criterion, selecting three schools from
the central, east, and north administrative zones that stood out in this index in the samples
from 2007 to 2021. The research uses a qualitative interview (Poupart, 2002), highlighting a
discourse socially constructed by 5th-grade teachers, seeking to engage in a dialogue with
authors such as Afonso (2009; 2010; 2012; 2013; 2014), Bonamino and Sousa (2012),
Schneider and Nardi (2015), among others. In this way, based on the presented processes, it
was possible to develop discussions around the intentions and tensions of accountability
policy, highlighting teacher’s conceptions regarding these policies. Despite the favorable
reception towards the evaluation pillar, teachers express reservations related to the complexity
of education, emphasizing the need to consider the context and individual circumstances of
students when interpreting the results. Regarding accountability, teachers consider that
monitoring their work is highlighted as a form of accountability, as well as the progress of
students and learning outcomes. Finally, in terms of accountability, teachers point out external
pressures outside the classroom to achieve good results, highlighting pressure as an incentive.