Problems in the dissemination of educational data and the treatment of its confidentiality in Argentina

Abstract

The article evaluates how data is published by the Secretaría de Evaluación e Información Educativa of the Ministerio de Educación de la Nación in Argentina. The accessibility and reliability are examined, based on the review of resolutions of claims for access to public information and an analysis of the protection scheme that the Ministerio applies on the published information. The main results highlight a scenario of overprotection of data –in terms of excluding experts and the general public from access to relevant public information combined with a striking weakness of the protection scheme, which does not follow any proven standard and exposes information considered confidential in an unrestricted manner. This research can facilitate comparative exercises between countries in the region with the purpose of enriching each other’s experiences, learning from their mistakes and suggesting paths for improvement in making educational information available.