Reading and writing in the early years of elementary education: an analysis of diagnostic data and teacher education from a decolonial perspective

Abstract

This article examines the teacher education initiative “Reading and Writing: methodological possibilities for learning”, and critically relates it to diagnostic reading and writing assessment data produced by CAEd (Center for Public Policy and Educational Assessment) for municipal and state school systems in the early years of elementary education. The study adopts a qualitative, analytical-interpretive approach grounded in a decolonial perspective. It problematizes the notion of "learning gaps" in light of the coloniality of knowledge and language, arguing that the difficulties identified through large-scale assessments should not be interpreted solely as individual shortcomings, but rather as manifestations of tensions between the normative culture of schooling and students' sociocultural repertoires. The findings reveal a progressive increase in the complexity of the skills required, ranging from the consolidation of the alphabetic writing system and the identification of textual purpose in the early years to the predominance of discursive, inferential, and metatextual abilities in the subsequent years. As a response to this context, the teacher education initiative proposed situated, dialogical and territorialized methodologies, highlighting the “Magic Cage” workshop as a pedagogical device that integrates text production, regional memory, and critical imagination. It can be concluded that addressing reading and writing learning gaps in the early years of Elementary Education requires the reconfiguration of pedagogical practices, grounded in ethical-political principles that conceive of language as a space for meaning-making and the school as a setting for critical education.