Just ten provinces throughout the country have the data of all their students from the three mandatory levels of education. The information was revealed by a study by Argentines Observatory for Education which has been going on for a long time four years.
Have a system of nominal educational information – that is, of each student of the different levels of training -, is one of the fundamental aspects to accompany the trajectories of the students and to be able detect difficulties, cases of desertion and other educational problems. In total, 21 jurisdictions participated in the survey which was done online.
Student traceability
The report “Nominal educational information systems in Argentina”, from the Observatory of Argentines for Education, was prepared by Flavia Ferrari Inchauspe, Leyre Saénz Guillén and Víctor Volman. In a context where technology is taking more and more ground – with the big data analysis and the development of artificial intelligence – “the management and use of data has become essential for making decisions evidence based“says the document.
The 21 jurisdictions that participated in the online survey are: Buenos Aires, CABA, Catamarca, Chaco, Chubut, Córdoba, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Jujuy, La Pampa, La Rioja, Mendoza, Misiones, Río Negro, Salta, San Juan, San Luis, Santa Cruz, Santa Fe, Santiago del Estero and Tucumán. On the other hand, Formosa, Neuquén and Tierra del Fuego did not respond to the survey.
In detail, Only 10 provinces have data on practically all their students of all its educational levels, that is, 99% or 100% of its students. This group is made up of: Córdoba, Chubut, Mendoza, Santa Fe, La Pampa, Jujuy, La Rioja, CABA, Entre Ríos and San Luis.
The report reveals significant disparities between the data available to the provinces. For example, Misiones and San Juan responded that they did not have data on students from the private sector, while Chaco declared that they only had information on the 13% of students from private primary schools and 17% from private secondary schools.
“The information collected by information systems (SIGED) can constitute a dynamic and complete photograph of the system, ranging from the individual performance of the student to the functioning of the classroom. By analyzing this data and providing feedback to the system, we provide teachers and managers with relevant information to improve learning strategies,” indicates Ferrari Inchauspe.
The study details that student information is a key tool to have “updated absenteeism records and the student grades. It also enables institutions to develop Early Warning Systems (SAT) which, by using attendance data and other indicators, “contribute to identifying and preventing situations at risk of school dropout.”
Furthermore, the work carried out by the Argentinos por la Educación Observatory found another problem: the information is concentrated mainly on the managerial and ministerial levelsbut not so in teachers and educational communities.
Data nominalization: a small advance
Despite the problems highlighted, the document highlights a positive fact: there is progress in the consolidation of the “Approved National Base” (BNH). This is a “student data website that allows centralizing and standardizing at a national level the information coming from the Comprehensive Digital Educational Information System (SInIDE) and the systems specific to each jurisdiction,” explains the study.
The base is the responsibility of the National Ministry of Education and shows an increase in its coverage by 10 points in the last three years. In 2023 there were data from 84% of enrollment at the initial, primary and secondary levels from all over the country, while in 2021 the figure was 74%
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Argentines Observatory for Education.
“This report shows significant progress in the coverage of nominal educational data as a tool to improve management, which is good news. But it also highlights some critical gaps between the potential of these systems and their effective implementation. The key is to convert these advances into useful tools for teachers and communities, promoting a cultural change that values and uses information as an engine for continuous improvement.“, concludes PrecklerDirector of Education at CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Source: Ambito
