Brazilian National Exam on Students’ Performance (Enade): Thematic tendencies of Brazilian scientific production (2004-2019)

Abstract

This paper results from a research that investigates the Brazilian National Exam on Students’ Performance (Enade), with the goal of understanding the knowledge legitimated by the implicit definition of pedagogical quality in the Enade. In this study, we mapped and analyzed the thematic tendencies of the Brazilian scientific production around Enade, from 2004 to 2018, within doctorate thesis and master’s dissertations available at the database from Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes). Regarding the methodology, we chose a literature review and documentary research of quantitative and qualitative nature. For the systematization of the production about Enade, we prioritized the following categories: knowledge area, chronology of scientific production, institutional provenance, regional distribution, thematic axis and tendencies. The study reveals that the evaluations impose a model for professional training and initiate a pedagogy guided on the competencies and a curriculum fitted to the demands of economy. In the last years, we also observed a change within higher education propelled by the evaluation policies, and more specifically Enade, which became a key strategy for the institutionalization of a political-pedagogic order.