Article - Participatory Institutional Self-Assessment of Early Childhood Education Institutions and the Co-Responsibility of Educators

Abstract

This article refers to some data from exploratory research, which had as its theme the implementation of Participatory Institutional Self-Evaluation, as a public policy for the evaluation of early childhood education in the municipal education system of the city of São Paulo, between 2013 and 2016. The case study involved professionals from 1869 teaching units and sought to analyze the process from the participants' perspective (FESTA, 2019). On this occasion, it is intended to focus on the educators' testimonies obtained in the questionnaire and semi-structured interview, portraying how they, at the time, conceived the issue of co-responsibility in the qualification of the daily practices of their respective institutions, since the perspective of transformation is a fundamental part of institutional self-evaluation (SORDI, 2010; SORDI; SOUZA, 2012; FREITAS, 2016; MORO, 2017). The research evidenced the resistance of professionals, from different institutions and different administrative instances, to assume the position of personal responsibility for the qualification of the service to children and their families (CAMPOS; RIBEIRO, 2016, 2017). It also brought elements that indicated the educators' difficulty in performing a truly critical analysis of their pedagogical practices (OLIVEIRA-FORMOSINHO; KISHIMOTO 2002; FREIRE, 1996), delegating to other actors or attributing to external factors the possibility of implementing the proposed and/or necessary changes. In conclusion, the data produced indicated the need, based on self-assessment, to establish relevant common goals, whose execution is an individual responsibility, but also assumed collectively, and that are intentionally articulated to the Political-Pedagogical Project of each institution (FREITAS, 2005, 2016).