A TURNING POINT: FROM CONTENT TO COMPETENCIES IN THE SABER 11 TEST IN COLOMBIA

Abstract

The Colombian Institute for the Evaluation of Education (ICFES), currently an autonomous entity of the Ministry of National Education of Colombia responsible for evaluating education in Colombia, was created with the name of Colombian Institute for the Promotion of Higher Education under decree 3156 of December 26, 1968 as a criterion for the admission of students to higher education institutions, was characterized by the evaluation of content through closed questions related to the level of acquisition of knowledge, skills and knowledge of students in the so-called fundamental subjects; however, at the gates of the year 2000, under the influence of the globalization phenomenon and the rise of educational proposals more in line with the international context, it was proposed to reform its evaluation methodology by orienting it towards competencies, focusing on the use of knowledge in situations framed in proposed contexts. This article, a text for dissemination, aims to understand the institutional development of ICFES, reflect on the changes that culminated in the transformation of the structure of the Saber 11 test, the educational guidelines that influenced these changes, and the formative implications in educational institutions of the evaluation implemented by ICFES for Colombian students.