The socioemotional habilities assessment as public policy: Making explicit controversies and arguments

Abstract

This article analyzes the Social and Emotional Non-cognitive Nationwide Assessment (SENNA) proposal, which has been disseminated as consensual and innovative in Brazil. The paper expounds some of its controversies; examines the foundations of the Big Five construct that supports the proposal; discusses the use of factor analysis as a basis for the study of personality; questions the separation of the cognitive and emotional dimensions and disputes the reduction of personality to a few traits that could be separately analyzable. Given the risks of simplifying the complexity of human development and of stigmatizing students who do not demonstrate the competencies stipulated as desirable, we call into question the pertinence of taking such a proposal as a public policy.