Non-formal education and assessment: Possibilities, limitations and challenges

Abstract

This is a study on a partnership between a non-governmental organization, a municipal Citizenship, Assistance and Social Inclusion Department and a public school in a cityin the state of São Paulo. This partnership is developed through social and educational activitiesfor 6 to 14-year-old boys either in the morning or in the afternoon when they are not in school. The aim of the paper is to identify and problematize the procedures used to evaluate the actions of non-formal education (NFE), highlighting possibilities, limits and challenges in this particular case, and then raise questions about how NFE is designed. The concepts of educational and emancipatory evaluation are adopted as theoretical background. The methodology consists of (i) a literature review of key concepts, (ii) documentary research and (iii) semi-structured interviews with one representative from each institution involved in the partnership. The results make it possible to identify limitations and weaknesses of the evaluation procedures, especially regarding its construction and configuration as a participatory and democratic tool, with the possible effect of restricting contributions to the education and transformation of the subjects and evaluated processes. However, there is a need for further studies in this field in order to examine whether the results presented here are repeated when focusing on other partnerships between ENF, government and school.

Key words: non-formal education, evaluation, partnership between non-formal education and government.