For the first time, Uruguay evaluates educational quality of textbooks
The Minister of Education and Culture, Pablo da Silveira, presented the results of the evaluations carried out on four publications. The Secretary of State pointed out that this is an important step, and that countries with mature educational systems usually have this type of quality evaluation mechanisms for texts. Two of the books analyzed correspond to the subject of Language and two to Social Sciences.
With the purpose of facilitating the educational community’s selection of quality materials and establishing a solid basis for the development of future didactic editions, the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) will evaluate each year the textbooks used in teaching and learning. of teachers and students of the National Administration of Public Education, through the Text Evaluators project. The publications analyzed on this occasion are: Your challenges of Spanish 1, Citizen@s today: training for the citizenship, Education Social and civic, Notebook for read and write in fifth.
50% did not reach the established minimum score of 110 points.
Behind this there are two years of work and an agreement with a professional team from the University of Buenos Aires to develop an evaluation instrument adjusted to the conditions of Uruguay, indicated da Silveira. He also reported that evaluator candidates were selected and trained to begin the process.
Currently, five more books from different areas are in the evaluation process and the results will be ready by the end of the year. In this regard, the minister stated that there is much to improve in Uruguayan education and that today there is an instrument to make decisions.
