The new high school implemented this year in M.G. was not exactly like it was approved in 2017. In that time, at least during the first stage, when all schools would have the sixth class, simply the student would choose among the subjects he or she already has. They would have more classes according to his or her area of interest after high school. Instead of this, it were created more five or six new subjects that probably will not help them much in the university, and classes of traditional currucula were decreased. Including Portuguese, Math and English which in 2017 were announced as untouchable. All teachers believe that adjustment will be necessary. The new high school was created to prepare students better to university and for those who don't want to go to university, offer them vocational education and training, called in Brazil technical courses. This post is a summary of two articles. The first with the title above was published in 2021 https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2021/05/18/brazil-week-future-education-brazil/. The second at published at https://www.oecd.org/education/policy-outlook/country-profile-Brazil-2021-EN.pdf
COVID-19 has brought to Brazil a multifaceted crisis. A crisis that is sanitary, economic, institutional and even educational. Around 190 countries have closed all or part of their schools. This has resulted in learning losses, especially for students from more vulnerable families. What was hidden has been revealed through COVID-19 crisis. It call us to face the educational challenges of our country, with the perception that only quality education builds an inclusive development process. There is a promise that the quality in the education to be built will not be achieved through exclusion. The goals that underpin this objective make this even clearer. The idea, for example, of ensuring that everyone completes secondary school is, in itself, bold. However, it will also have to be "fair and have quality, what can be translated into relevant and effective learning results". That is, in addition to completing secondary studies, everyone must learn. Education holds a great role in building a society that respects life, promotes peace and allows a quality existence for new generations. Thus the Sustainable Development Goals establishes that, by 2030, we will ensure that "all learners acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote development", learning to develop sustainable lifestyle, promoting human rights, gender equality, a culture of peace, global citizenship, and appreaciation of cultural diversity. Yes, it is essential to develop basic competences in young people. However, we shouldn't forget that in the 20th century, people who received formal education were able to perpetrate atrocities in the name of national pride and an exclusive dystopia. It is increasingly clear that education will need to be transformed in an important way in the coming years. Based on the lessons learned during social isolation, teachers, even with their reduced experience in the use of digital tools, had to learn to use them in practice, in order to ensure some form of pedagogical interaction with their students. This learning could be the basis for hybrid teaching. In this way, teachers will act less as mere suppliers of expository classes and more as learning guarantors. Brazil took a long time to expand access to education. It still faces challenges in this regard, especially in high school. But our problems are not limited to access to education and school delay. The results of PISA 2018, an international assessment of the quality of education organised by OECD and applied to 15 years-olds, put Brazil in a difficult situation in terms of learning. Countries with much lower income than Brazil had better results. The low attractiveness of the teaching career in Brazil and the training teachers received are the most important causes of this challenging scenario. It is essential to raise salaries, make teachers more professional and prepared to improve their performance in class. We have to transform Brazilian education urgently. Some proposals in this sense, although still insufficient, are already being implemented, such as: Elaboration of a National Base for Teaching. Large-scale assessment. But there is still a long way to go to recover from the bruises in education that should have already healed. And even longer to go to prepare for the coming years. We will need to: 1) create a school culture that combines excellence with equity. 2) make the teaching profession attractive. 3) use tech to support teachers in personalising the teaching process. 3) expand the school day. 4) encourage hybrid education. The future depends on what we do now. Especially in the case of education, in which new generation are formed with the accumulated knowledge of those who came before. The capacity of a country to effectively develop skills and labour market perspectives can play an important role in the education decisions of the population. In 2018, 47% of adults in brazil had not completed upper secondary education, compared to OECD averages of 22%. Upper secondary education (ensino médio) is compulsory in Brazil and usually over three years. Despite growing student participation at this level, performance is often low and drop-out rates are high. Drop-out rates among students in the lowest income quintile are eight times higher than those in the highest. Current reforms in Brazil align with some common international responses. Vocational education and training (VET) can ease entry into the labour market, yet many VET programmes across the OECD make insufficient use of workplace training. In Brazil, VET (educação profissional e técnica) is low, only 11% of upper secondary students in 2018 were in vocational programmes, well below the OECD average of 42% and the target of 25% by 2024. Completion rates are also low, in 2018, only 58% of VET students had graduated. Current reforms target the integrated model, which has lower drop-out rates.In 2017, Brazil approved a New Upper Secondary education (NEM - novo ensino médio) aiming to enhance quality and raise student engagement. International policy trends in this area have focused on developing more engaging and relevant pathways, advancing student guidance and updating curricula. Brazil's reform follows this direction with changes in three key areas: 1) Curricular flexibility - at the heart of the reform is the introduction of the BNCC. To modernise the course offer, the NEM promotes flexible learning pathways, reducing the mandatory component from 13 to 3 subjects ( Portuguese, mathematics and English). This and other areas of knowledge must cover 60% of instruction time. For the remaining 40%, students choose from 5 pathways - languages, math, natural sciences, social sciences and VET. 2) Full-time schooling - through NEM, Brazil aims to universalise full-time schooling at this level, moving from 800 hours per year, to at least 1000 hours in 2022 and eventually 1400 hours. 3) Future relevance - NEM encourages all schools to offer curricular units focused on developing students "life projects". This includes supporting students to develop transversal skills to support employment and offering careers guidance. Implementation of NEM is the responsibility of state administrations, but federal leaderships is essential in guiding action and consistency. The federal government has committed to funding schools implementing the reform, based annually on student numbers. The World Bank provides further financial support, with a focus on equitable implementation. To oversee implementation, MEC established a monitoring committee, states are expected to do the same. MEC will measure flexibility based on schools offering at least two pathways only, this risks creating a false sense of choice. In a survey of state-level, reported implementation obstacle include states' technical capacity and resources, as well as continued ambiguity regarding the alignment of ENEM for which the reference matrix has not yet been updated and there is a perceived lack of dialogue. Brazil can turn the heterogeneity of implementation to its advantage, promoting collaboration between states and institutions, such approaches have worked well in international examples. The states of Paraíba, for example, has a high level of full-time schooling and a well-developed VET offer, has a lot of knowledge and experience to share with states for whom developing pathways will be a challenge.
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