Abstract

Objective:  The article presents the results of a study that aims to reveal the epistemological foundations of teachers’ representation of the concept of evaluation.

Methodology:  Through a qualitative, descriptive, and interpretative method, nine teachers were interviewed; they work for a private school with a State subsidy in Viña del Mar, Province of Valparaíso, Chile. In addition, a documentary corpus made up of the Institutional Educational Project (PEI), and the Evaluation Regulation of the establishment was studied. The collected information was first analyzed using the Grounded Theory as a theoretical guide and then from the epistemological approach offered by John Searle’s theory of the institutionalization of language.

Results:  The most significant finding is that the representation the teaching staff elaborates on the concept of evaluation is mainly associated with the purposes of the pedagogical and administrative contexts of the school. The teaching staff represents the concept of evaluation as a conflict between both contexts since the epistemological foundation that sustains such a representation is based on the false belief that, in their teaching work, adherence to one purpose to the detriment of the other is fortuitous.

Keywords: Evaluation; social representations; epistemology; institutionalization; language; learning