Le savoir-évaluer comme politique éducative Vers une évaluation plus profonde

Résumé

L’évaluation vécue dans les écoles américaines a changé de rôle. De l’évaluation à dimension humaine, nous sommes passés, dans de nombreux pays, à une évaluation de performance standardisée et quantitative dont la fonction est politique, que cet essai analyse de façon critique au vu des recherches sur la validité des tests standardisés. Dans leur évaluation de terrain, les enseignants tendent à tenir compte des facteurs humains, au contraire des mesures standardisées qui contribuent à refaçonner l’enseignement selon les prescriptions des législateurs. La tendance actuelle en matière d’évaluation scolaire porte la raison instrumentale à son extrême, comme si les machines et les critères bureaucratiques pouvaient remplacer les agents humains. Elle peut porter un large préjudice aux minorités linguistiques. L’évaluation est toujours relative car elle dépend d’une interprétation conceptuelle et du contexte d’application. Une approche plus humaine est proposée.

Mots-clés :

• Raison instrumentale,
• tests de performance,
• politique éducative,
• évaluation profonde,
• sagesse

Abstract

Assessment as it is lived in American schools has changed its role. The humane dimension of teacher know-how, in assessment, has been replaced by quantitative performance assessments that play a political function, as it is the case in a number of countries. This essay discusses it from a critical perspective considering research on the validity of standardized performance tests. Teachers’ field assessments tend to integrate the human factor as a major consideration, to the contrary of standard ized measures that re-shape teaching to match the demand of the law makers. The current tendency in the field of school assessment places Ins tru mental Reason to its extreme, as if machines and bureaucratic criteria could replace the human agents. Because it enforces assimilation, it an carry a wide prejudice to linguistic minor ities. Assess ment is always relative enterprise, as it depends upon a concep tual interpretation and the context of its application. A more humane and deeper approach of evaluation is proposed.

Keywords:

• Instrumental reason,
• performance testing,
• educational policy,
• linguistic genocide,
• racial segregation,
• deep evaluation,
• wisdom

Resumo

A avaliação vivida nas escolas americanas mudou de papel. De avaliação à dimensão humana, passámos, em muitos países, a uma avaliação das performances estandardizadas e quantitativas cuja função é política, o que este artigo analisa de modo crítico tendo em conta as investigações sobre a validade dos testes estandardizados. Na sua avaliação do terreno, os professores tendem a ter em conta os fatores humanos, ao contrário das medidas estandardizadas que contribuem para reconfigurar o ensino segundo o prescrições dos legisladores. A tendência atual em matéria de avaliação escolar leva a razão instrumental ao extremo, como se as máquinas e os critérios burocráticos pudessem substituir os agentes humanos, pode levar um prejuízo grande para minorias linguísticas. A avaliação é sempre relativa porque depende de uma interpretação concetual e do contexto de aplicação. Uma abordagem mais humana é proposta.

Palavras chaves:

• Razão instrumental,
• testes de perfomance,
• política educativa,
• avaliação profunda,
• sabedoria