Distinguishing symbolic and evidence-based policies: the Brazilian efforts to increase the quality of basic education

Abstract

This article addresses the question how to distinguish symbolic policies from evidence-based policies, using the efforts of the Brazilian government to improve the achievements of pupils in primary schools as an illustration.

The Brazilian government aimed for achievements in basic education in its country equal to those in the developed world and implemented policies in line with decentralization of the schooling system and improvement of the training of teachers. It will be shown that such policies are symbolic in the sense that they may have an appeal to the national population and to the outside world, but are hardly effective.

This article’s main argument is that governments can prevent such outcomes when they are less opportunistic in following international fashions, such as the striving for decentralization, and have policymakers analyze the problem somewhat more thoroughly, resulting in evidence-based policies.

Points for practitioners

This study points to four criteria to distinguish symbolic versus evidence-based policies and gives an example of how to use these criteria in practice. This is useful for policymakers, policy analysts and policy evaluators.