MIXED-METHOD EVALUATION TO PROMOTE THE QUALITY OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: POTENTIALITY AND TENSIONS OF A COLLECTIVE PRODUCTION

Abstract

The evaluation of the quality of Early Childhood Education constitutes a field of knowledge and practices that mobilize structural aspects into the area considering the competence of the different agents in the evaluation processes and their effects in the effectiveness of public policy. In the framework of an evaluation aligned with the promotion of quality and the recognition of Early Childhood Education as a public policy subordinate to social control, we propose to discuss the potentialities and tensions present in the mixed-method evaluation, a model that combines internal and external procedures and instruments inside and outside of institutions. The discussion starts from a mixed-method evaluation experience carried out in conjunction with the technical team of the Public Ministry of the State of São Paulo (MPSP), in the Special Education Group of [hidden information]. External evaluation allows a technical and multiprofessional idea in line with public policy proposals and quality guidelines. In turn, it must be considered a process with different powers. An internal evaluation promotes collective self-reflection on the quality of care; while also brings some risks of promoting little progress in quality, considering it depends on well-developed processes of participation and on the ability to listen to different institutional actors. The intersection of these views, in a dialogical perspective, which presents possibilities for overcoming the limits and also invites us to reflect on challenges that are established in the dynamics of relations between people and public agencies.