From the market of success to the success of a market: educational solutions, assessment, and school inclusion

Abstract

The interpretation and translation of performance-based educational policies in response to the demands of inclusive education policy is the key point presented in this text. It was hypothesized that when these policies coexist in the same educational space and are translated into concrete actions at the municipal level, they do not have satisfactory dialogue. In the pursuit of better performance indicators, municipalities end up creating room for the emergence of a private market that promises solutions while distancing itself from the main principles of inclusion. To test the announced hypothesis, seventeen municipalities in Santa Catarina that acquired the private educational package Sistema de Ensino Aprende Brasil were researched. The study aimed to understand the implications of acquiring this package and its relationship with large-scale external evaluations for the perspective of inclusive education in municipal education systems. The obtained data were presented and discussed in interaction with theoretical arguments grounded in the theory of political action. The results confirmed the authors’ hypothesis as they identified a distancing from the principles of inclusive education following the adoption of the private educational services proposal. These services are presented as an “educational solution” that shapes individuals’ formation based on the evaluation and measurement of their competencies. They reinforce the normative logic of regular schools and attribute to private services a salvational status as the only possible path to the success of public education.