Paper short abstract:

One of the points in which it is possible to investigate the compromise between quantity and quality of an educational system, it is in its educational sustainability. Therefore, we wanted to investigate if there is connection between regulatory documents of pedagogical practice.

Paper long abstract:

The dynamics of any educational system requires the creation of conditions for a sustained education, grounded in Curricular Programs, Textbooks and other documents that regulate pedagogical practice. However, not always these "documents" are articulated, culminating in the register of weaknesses, particularly in what concerns to the developing of writing skills. Indeed, in our view, this is one of the points in which it is possible to investigate the compromise between quantity and quality, insofar as there are African countries that have a program and a unique manual for each grade, like the case of Cape Verde.

Thus, taking into account the context of Cape Verde, our study has two essential objectives: i) verify how the Portuguese textbooks - 7th and 8th grades - promote the development of writing skills, having as base of analysis the items of the Portuguese program, ii) investigate the relationship between textbooks and the Portuguese Language program for 7th and 8th grades.

Since our corpus is made up of documents that constitute experimental versions of the curriculum revision of Cape Verde (Strategic Plan of Education, 2003), the results of our analysis point to: i) insufficient written proposals - 13 in the 7th grade and 24 in the 8th grade - ii) disarticulation that exists between Portuguese Programs and Textbooks. We believe that this situation brings negative consequences from the point of view of teaching and learning and also allows to infer that "the compromise between quality and quantity" maybe is not working.