Education council moots replacing exams with aptitude tests

The National Education Council (CNE) in Portugal suggested, in a recommendation released on 6 March, replacing national exams with projects similar to aptitude tests carried out in professional and artistic courses, reports the Agência Lusa.

The hypothesis was raised in a recommendation on exams and access to higher education in which the Ministry of Education’s advisory body raised a set of limitations of the current model.

In the CNE’s opinion, making entry into higher education dependent on secondary exit exams resulted in an overvaluation of those tests and, on the other hand, in the devaluation of secondary education itself. The CNE also understands that there ends up being a tendency to reduce the prescribed curriculum to what is assessed, also limiting the capacity for pedagogical innovation and reinforcing a model that guides teaching towards exam preparation.
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