Enem turns 25 amid the challenges of the new high school – 11/04/2023 – Education

Enem (National High School Exam) turns 25 in this 2023 edition, which starts this Sunday (5) and continues next (12). The exam was born as an assessment, evolved into a national entrance exam and today is a symbol of challenges that involve, in addition to the permanent logistical issue, the adaptation of the secondary school curriculum and the expansion of its role of inclusion, which has been emptied in recent years.

“The Enem design has been maintained since 2009. We had the curricular base in 2018, now there is the reform of secondary education, we are in a very rich moment for discussions to build a better test for students”, says the president of Inep (National Institute of Educational Studies and Research), Manuel Palácios.

Linked to the MEC (Ministry of Education), Inep is responsible for the test.

Changes will only come from 2025. And the decision is to maintain a single test, anchored in a new matrix of knowledge aligned with the general formation of the National Common Curricular Base.

Therefore, the idea of ​​the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government to have different versions of the test as a way of adapting to the secondary education reform has been ruled out.

Created in 1998, during the Fernando Henrique Cardoso government, Enem emerged to be a barometer of high school quality. Over the years, some private and even public institutions started to use the score for admission or for bonuses in entrance exams, as USP did.

The big jump in applicants was after 2004, when the test became a criterion for access to ProUni scholarships (University for All Program). From one to the next, the exam doubled in size, surpassing 3 million registrants.

But it was in 2009, during the Lula (PT) government, that the exam became the main gateway to public higher education. The exam was organized into two days of tests, based on a new matrix and with a new preparation and correction system.

“There was already a growing use of Enem to enter institutions, the big change was the attraction of federal universities to use it as an entrance exam”, says professor Reynaldo Fernandes, from USP in Ribeirão Preto, who presided over Inep at the time of this change. .

From that year onwards, Enem started to adopt the TRI (Item Response Theory) in its preparation and correction. It is a set of mathematical models that allow control of the difficulty of the questions and the comparability of results.

The test was divided into four areas of knowledge (human sciences, natural sciences, mathematics and languages), in addition to writing. Participants ask 45 questions from each of these areas, 90 items per exam day.

Enem as an entrance exam gained importance and grew in size. But logistical challenges soon appeared — and became central to the history of the exam. The proof was stolen from the printer and leaked in 2009.

In the following years, there were printing problems, changing templates, and publishing wrong notes. This year, around 50 thousand registrants were allocated more than 30 km away from their homes — to try to resolve this, the MEC opened up the possibility for those affected to take the test on another date, in December.

Over the years, this range of logistical challenges has imposed itself on any other issue. Especially related to the test model.

“In 2009, the big discussion was the matrix [de referência de conteúdos]. But, after the fall of Enem 2009, the concern changed and Enem’s biggest problem became security. And the content discussion never came back,” says Reynaldo Fernandes. “But this discussion has returned now, with the new high school.”

Within the government, in all administrations, Enem is seen as an operation of great complexity and sensitivity. A logistics that involves the Executive, Federal Police, Post Office, state police, Armed Forces and thousands of applicators and brokers throughout Brazil.

This year, the exam will be administered in 9,399 test locations, in 1,750 municipalities across the country.

The president of Inep explains that, more than adapting to the reform of secondary education (which deals with a curricular organization), Enem’s next move will be to adapt the matrix to the National Common Curricular Base, which defines what students should learn .

“The discussion established that the general training of the Base should be the reference”, states Manuel Palácios. With the new secondary education, part of the students’ curriculum is linked to a common general education, and another to in-depth courses — which must be chosen by the students, if available.

The Lula government sent a bill to the National Congress to review the architecture of this reform. The text foresees, in general terms, an increase in the workload for this common part and limitations for the in-depth lines, whose nomenclature changes from “itinerary” to “route”.

Proportion of public school graduates is still low

Also from 2009 onwards, Sisu (Unified Selection System) was created, which brings together vacancies from universities that adopt test scores as entrance exams. This meant it was easier to compete in institutions across the country by taking just one test.

The measure was considered to democratize the exam. For public school students, black and indigenous, it intensified with the Quota Law, implemented in 2013.

Even with this scenario, the number of subscribers has suffered dehydration in recent years. During the Bolsonaro government, the test became whiter and more elitist, as shown by Sheet.

With 3.9 million registered this year, the government achieved a 13% increase in the number of participants compared to 2022. But the participation of public school graduates is far from the approximately 2 million young people who complete the 3rd year of secondary education each year in state schools.

On average, not even 60% of public school graduates signed up. On average for private schools, 80% of the approximately 230 thousand 3rd year students enrolled, according to an analysis of the report based on data from Enem and the School Census.

A public school student in Brasília, Hugo Kaue Medeiros Gomes, 18, is part of the group of graduates registered for the exam. He says he finds the test tiring and fears the mystery of the essay’s topic, with an anxiety that only increases.

“The day arrives and the nervousness increases, and at the time it’s total tension”, says the student. “I’m prepared, not too prepared either. But let’s do it.”

This and next Sunday, the gates of the test sites close at 1 pm, Brasília time. The test starts at 1:30 pm and ends, on the first day, at 7:00 pm, and on the second, at 6:30 pm.

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Chronology

1998
ORIGIN
MEC creates Enem as an instrument to measure the quality of secondary education

2004
PROUNI
Test becomes a criterion for accessing ProUni scholarships, which increases the number of applicants

2009
NEW MODEL AND LEAK
Government changes the test model, which would be used as a national entrance exam. In the week before the first application in the model, the test leaks and MEC cancels the exam. Reapplication occurred weeks later

2010
PRINT
Answer cards are printed with errors, and Inep has to reapply the exam for disadvantaged candidates. Newsroom topic leaks in Pernambuco

2011
PRE-TEST
The exam contains 14 questions identical to items anticipated in a simulation by a school in Fortaleza. Questions were leaked from pre-test

2014
RECORD
Race breaks record number of participants, with 8.7 million registered

2017
TWO SUNDAYS
Enem will now be applied on two Sundays. Since 2009, the test has taken place on the same weekend.

2019
CENSORSHIP
Bolsonaro government creates a commission to fine-tune ideological combs on test issues. Military dictatorship is no longer addressed, which occurred until 2022

2023
TEST PLACES AND END OF DIGITAL
Government decides to abandon digital Enem, started in 2020. Around 50 thousand subscribers are allocated more than 30 km from home