In this phenomenographic qualitative research, the aim is to learn about the conceptions of university professors about the university. The study was carried out with 20 university professors: 10 from the School of Social Sciences and 10 from the School of Science and Technology of University of Évora with an average age of 54 years and over 20 years of professional activity. The data were collected through open questionnaires and then submitted to thematic and categorical content analysis. The conceptions of the university appear, in the voice of the teachers, centered on two main aspects. The first and more mentioned concerns the conception of the university as a space of production and diffusion of scientific knowledge, which refers to quality factors of higher education. The second brings out the conception of the university as a space of relationship with society together with underlying concerns for human development, cooperation, and the design of a more sustainable world.

In a period strongly marked by constraints and abrupt societal changes, school leaders had to manage the pandemic crisis, guide changes, and find new solutions to respond to the demands of increasingly digitalised schools. Taking this situation into consideration, a study was carried out with the aim of identifying the main challenges faced by school leaders in Portugal related to the teaching and learning processes, platforms and other digital technologies (PDT) used, and lessons learned for a post-pandemic future. From the methodological point of view, a questionnaire with closed questions on digital technologies and open questions on the COVID-19 pandemic issue was submitted to Portuguese school leaders in the period between November 2020 and March 2021. The results, based on a descriptive statistical analysis of the closed questions and the content analysis of the open answers of 145 school leaders, point to aspects related to lack of training, lack of resources, widening inequalities and communication issues. The PDT are the same as used before, mainly office applications, and spaces for storing and sharing school information; however, these PDT were used more frequently. These findings imply the need to invest in continuous training for leaders in how to manage crises and how to optimise the use of PDT in schools; and to capitalise on internal and external partnerships in collaborative efforts and networking to overcome the lack of resources, social needs and inequalities. The lessons learned during the process of finding and evaluating solutions can contribute to improving school management processes in crisis situations.

Este estudo pretendeu: identificar plataformas e tecnologias digitais (PTD) mais utilizadas em atividades escolares; verificar efeitos da pandemia, devida à COVID-19, no seu uso; sistematizar vantagens ou contributos e problemas/dificuldades encontrados. Dados de questionários respondidos por 1753 professores e 2041 alunos de escolas públicas portuguesas revelaram o aumento da frequência de uso das PTD, para fins e objetivos idênticos à pré-pandemia. Ambos os grupos consideraram que as PTD promovem práticas educativas inovadoras, sendo o acesso à internet e a falta de conhecimentos nesta área um obstáculo. Durante a quarentena, os professores referiram sobretudo a falta de comunicação com alunos e a desigualdade social e os alunos a dificuldade de compreensão das matérias e a falta de contacto com colegas e professores. Conclui-se ser necessário investir no acesso generalizado à internet e às PTD e no desenvolvimento de competências digitais de professores e alunos, por forma a diminuir as desigualdades sociais.

RESUMO A avaliação das (e para as) aprendizagens tem vindo a assumir uma presença cada vez maior no campo da investigação em Educação. Uma das premissas incontornáveis assume que, ao contrário do que ainda se continua a verificar, a avaliação não deve ser entendida como extrínseca ao processo de ensino e de aprendizagem, pois encontra-se intimamente ligada aos componentes que envolvem o ato de ensinar e de aprender. O artigo resulta de estudo de caso realizado numa escola portuguesa, que pretendeu caracterizar estratégias de avaliação e conhecer perceções sobre avaliação das aprendizagens nas disciplinas de Ciências Naturais e Biologia e Geologia. O estudo seguiu uma abordagem qualitativa, de natureza interpretativa. As práticas de avaliação observadas estão associadas às perceções que professor e alunos manifestam sobre avaliação e mostram-se mais orientadas para a classificação e seleção dos alunos do que para a melhoria dos processos de ensino e de aprendizagem.

The study aimed to analyze scientific literacy assessment instruments. In this sense, a systematic literature review was carried out in the B-On, SciELO, Scholar Google, and RCAAP databases to identify studies using scientific literacy assessment instruments. The selection criteria included articles published between 1990 and 2020 in Portuguese, English, or Spanish, which developed and/or used scientific literacy assessment instruments. Articles that did not address scientific literacy in the title or abstract did not cite instruments and results of assessing students' scientific literacy, reviews, case studies, and articles that assessed specific subjects or subjects were excluded. Thirteen scientific literacy assessment instruments were identified. Most of the studies were conducted in Brazil, Indonesia, and the United States, predominating with Secondary School students. Higher Education students were the ones with the most positive results. The most evaluated dimensions of scientific literacy were related to different scientific literacy skills. The respondents’ classifications were obtained through the descriptive frequencies of responses to the items, with no standardization in the categorization processes of the results. Our findings led us to conclude that caution is required when comparing the results of the studies, since many instruments were applied at educational levels and in contexts different from those for which they were developed.