The high school reform approved by Congress in 2017 is the best option to improve the Brazilian education, in the short-term, the sixth class and the flexibilization will deep the students knowledge in their subjects chosen, and in the long-term the integral school will give time for students learn more their weakness. This post is a summary of two articles. The first with the title above was published at http://porvir.org/en/secondary-education-reform-means-challenges-opportunities-brazil/ The second was published at http://www.worldbank.org/en/results/2017/04/10/improving-flexibility-quality-equity-upper-secondary-education-mexico. The third was published at http://www.thesunchronicle.com/vip/opinion/columns/guest-column-why-students-should-choose-their-own-classes/article_9b794965-5d99-55c0-9890-fa66d23ce407.html. The fourth was published at https://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/78/61/7861.pdf
Despite representing an opportunity to address the strucutural problems of this stage of education, new proposals must overcome obstacles to appeal to young people and not increase inequality. Approved by Congress in February 2017, the reform of secondary education requires that 60% of the curriculum is organized around common subjects while 40% should correspond to optional educational programs. In this model, students from public and private schools will be able to choose to extend their studies in the ares of languages, math, natural sciences, human and social sciences and technical and professional training, depending on the courses offered by their schools. Although the proposal still generates disagreement among administrators, teachers and students, everyone agrees on one point: the final stage of basic education in Brazil needs to change. During the Seminar "Curricular Challenges in Secondary Education: Implementation and Flexibilization," several professionals involved in the educational debate highlighted the challenges and opportunities of strucutural reform in this phase. According to data from the IBGE, in Brazil 1.3 million people aged 15 to 17 leave school before completing their studies. Cesar Callegari, a member of the National Education Council, says that in such scenario decisive steps are needed to set basic education on the path to what the country and the young require. "It is unacceptable that we still consider it normal that 90% of people finish basic education without the required knowledge in math and 78% without the minimum knowledge in Portuguese," he states. But what defines a good high school? For Elizabeth Fordham, the senior advisor for education of the OECD, a quality system must ensure that everyone masters key cognitive skills, as well as addressing the interests of young people and preparing students for the future. "The reform in Brazil is in line with what we consider a reference for a good high school," she says. While the advisor defends the possibility of students choosing their educational paths, she also warns that it will also be necessary to create mechanisms to support young people in such decision making, stating that almost 50% of students in OECD countries participate in vocational programs. In the opinion of Thayane santos, who has just finished high school in Rio, the reform should ensure that everyone's choices are considered. "All I hope for from any kind of educational reform is that the exception becomes the rule," says Thayane, mentioning the fact that only 14% of young Brazilians are in higher education. Thayane's concerns reveal another challenge faced by flexibilization, especially considering almost 3,000 Brazilian municipal regions have only one school. Neca Setubal President of the board of the Tide Setubal Foundation, warns that such regions will have to enter into partnership agreements and reorganize themselves within structures and systems of collaboration so that they can offer the five areas of graduation. "The student has to have a real chioce," she says, explaining that the system should offer young people options in their itineraries and prepare them to make such choices. At the same time, she says that the search for ways to offer all the itineraries is an opportunity for schools to learn to work in partnership. Despite the challenges faced, the high school reform brings the opportunity to tackle the old problems of education in Brazil, bringing changes in assessment, timetables, teacher training, and didactic materials. "Once the flexibilization being implemented becomes a reference for transformation, we can move into another structural reality." says Ricardo Henrique executive of Unibanco.
More than one-third of Mexico's students in upper secondary education are now enrolled in schools that share a competency-based curriculum for developing the skills. Despite large increments in enrollment (from 59% in 2008 to 72% in 2015), dropout rates have decreased considerably, from 16% to 12% in 2015. In addition, gaps in enrollment and graduation rates between poor and well-off students have narrowed. Between 2010 and 2016, reforms creating the institutional basis for the National Upper Secondary Education System and the development policy loan supported key policy actions to improve the quality, relevance and equity of upper secondary education in Mexico. Just-in-time technical assistance helped overcome some obstacles faced during reform implementation; for example, workshop recommendations on international best teaching practices led to critical design improvements in the teacher-training program introduced with the reform. The flexibility and efficiency of the upper secondary education system improved, allowing more than a third of students to adjust their schooling pathways, without the need to start over, thus completing their degrees. In addition, these students benefited from important gains in education quality, among them curriculum adjustments to subject area, and professional competencies and the development of minimum learning standards for secondary education. Before the reform, the curriculum had been content-based and focused on memorization; the new curriculum emphasizes meaningful learning and problem-solving skills. The reform strengthened the institutional capacity and contributed to developing the regulatory framework for the secondary education system.
Many students feel that courses they are taking in high school are not relevant to the field of study they would eventualy major in at a higher level of education. Should a student who hopes to major in journalism be forced to take so many classes of chemistry, physics and calculus in order to graduate? Should a student who hopes to major in biochemistry be told he must take three years of Spanish in order to get his diploma? Instead of putting the focus on what really matters, preparing students for the real world and life after high school, students are required to take that take up their effort and time. The problem with our current education system is that students are spending too much time in classes that will get them nowhere and not enough time in classes that will actually help them in life and their careers. Students should be able to choose their own classes because it would prepare them better for the real world. Students would have more motivation to learn and come to school if they were given the opportunity to choose their own classes. When students have the ability to choose what they would like to learn about, it makes them more eager to engage with the material. Give high school students the same freedom as college students, and we will take education a step in the right direction. When students can apply their knowledge learned in high school classes to their real life, that is a successful outcome. Students have different minds with different interestts, and it is unfair to "universalize" the courses that every student at a school has to take. If a student does well in and has a passion for English but struggles in math, that student should have the freedom to take more Emglish and literature so he or she can thrive and learn about a subject that he or she loves.
Nobody benefits when a student arrives in high school or college with deficiencies that could have been addressed previous to the student's promotion. Students who enter high school with poor reading skills are 20 times more likely to drop out than their highest achieving classmates. Optimally, no student would enter high school with below-grade-level skills, but many do. For those students it is critical that their low skills are accurately identified so that they can be provided with proper instruction while in high school. Without good data, such accurate identification is possible. Boredom brought on by the failure to see the curriculum's relevance is a major obstacle to learning for high school students. Reporting findings from high school survey of student engagement finds that: 1)Two-thirds of students are bored in class at least every day. 2) 17% of students are bored in every class. 3) Of students who have considered dropping out of school, 60% cite not seeing value in the work they were being asked to do as the reason they considered dropping out. Additionally, students who have failed behind are often overwhelmed by the need to repeat entire year in classes and simly quit. This mean that effective remediation policies also can serve as dropout prevention policies.
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