The impact of PISA in teaching practices in Portugal: The case of Portuguese L1

Abstract

Portugal has participated in PISA since 2000 and the national results in reading literacy have been very poor. To improve these results, Portuguese authorities implemented an impressive exam model that has strongly affected teaching practices in Portuguese L1 classrooms. To understand some positive and negative effects of this model we will compare two actual classroom tests, used in 1992 and 2011, and will summarize the results of a report about the relation between exams results and student performance at university. The effects of the Portuguese exam model fostered by PISA seem to call for a study about the incentives PISA has been directly or indirectly encouraging in participant countries.