Uma avaliação multidimensional da qualidade da educação no Brasil a partir da abordagem das capacitações

Abstract

This dissertation propose a multidimensional index of education quality for Brazil inspired on the Capabilities Approach. A literature review is conducted to select the relevant dimensions for this index, resulting in the choosing of nine dimensions, divided in two groups: capabilities to access education and capabilities through education. Using Saeb's microdata from the years of 2003 and 2013, provided by Inep, a representative sample is selected, covering States and administrative competencies, as well as students from the 5th and 9th grades from primary education. A set of 47 variables are choosen to represent the dimensions proposed for the index. The definition of a set of weights uses Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The index is estimated for some groups of interest for both years. The results show that there were a improvement in the quality of education in the period, although small. Besides, the analysis of the sub-indexes reveals the multidimensionality of education, as the ordering of States according to this sub-indexes varies with the dimensions under study. It can also be noted that there is a big difference between private and Federal schools vis-à-vis schools managed by States and Municipalities. These differences, however, occur only in a few dimensions, meaning that educational inequalities stem from a small number of dimensions, not from all of them. At last, the multidimensional index is compared with two other measures of education quality used in Brazil, the Ideb and the IOEB indexes. The results show a significant difference between them, calling for the need of multidimensional measures that take into account a broader notion of education.