International Large-Scale Assessments: Trends and Effects on the Portuguese Public Education System

Abstract

Portugal’s first major participation on an international large-scale student assessment (ILSA) was with TIMSS 1995. Portuguese students performed very poorly, and this led to the dismissal of TIMSS as a valid assessment for the Portuguese education system and the devaluation of the results. However, participation in TIMSS 1995 set in motion a sample-based external assessment in mathematics the following year whose framework was clearly inspired by TIMSS and which set the reference for the external assessments that still prevail today. The PISA 2000 survey that followed found the Portuguese students in the lowest rankings amongst the OECD countries. The TIMSS and PISA results reinforced the perception that the Portuguese curricula, teaching and assessment practices needed much improvement. ILSA and OECD suggestions were used to support and justify education policies aimed at the curricula reformulation, teaching practices, students’ support programs and schools’ management. In 2015, Portugal ranked for the first time above the OECD PISA average. This chapter gives a brief overview of the Portuguese record in major ILSAs and their effects on the shaping of the Portuguese educational system.