Flaviopédia Português
Brazil that Prepares

Teaching for real

a good school is a school where the student learns

Proposes phonics-based literacy instruction, tutoring by paid student monitors, funding transfers tied to learning targets, more civic-military schools and an education voucher.

In the program: [p. 34, 35, 36] · Translated by Flaviopédia from the official Portuguese text; the Portuguese quote is authoritative. Read the original in Portuguese

What the program says

For years Brazil has been pushing students from one year to the next without their having learned. The child who is not taught to read and write at the right age becomes the teenager who moves up a grade without understanding the subject and the young person who finishes school without knowing enough to get a good job. And it is not for lack of money: the country has more than tripled spending per student and remains among the lowest-ranked in the world. In PISA, the main international education assessment, Brazil appears in 65th place among 81 countries in mathematics. Method was lacking, accountability was lacking, and ideology abounded. It all begins with teaching literacy properly. We will prioritize the phonics method, which is the one with the best results proven by science, teaching the child to link each sound to its letter, instead of the approaches that failed for decades. And, for students who struggle throughout primary and lower-secondary education (ensino fundamental), we will create the “Programa Acolher” (“Welcome Program”): a student who performs well is paid to tutor classmates who need it, remotely or in person. Everyone wins: those who need it receive help from someone close to them, who speaks their language, and those who help earn an income and learn even more by teaching. The goal is clear: no one moves up a grade without having learned. Schools will be held accountable for what they exist to do. Management will be based on outcome and proficiency indicators, and funding will follow results-based budgeting, with transfers tied to learning targets, without abandoning regions that face greater difficulties. Teachers will have continuous training based on scientific evidence, and not on pedagogical fads, with preparation that equips them to teach well, and not to be activists in the classroom. Education will be guided by knowledge and free of party-political indoctrination, respecting freedom of conscience and the role of families. School is a place to learn how to think, not to learn what to think, and it is the parents who decide on the values their child receives. We will expand the Civic-Military Schools, which have combined discipline and good performance wherever they were implemented, and guarantee provision for high-ability students, who today are lost for lack of stimulation: the national policy on the subject is law but remains unimplemented, and we will get it off the drawing board. We will also bring robotics, computers, tablets and internet access to schools, and include in the curriculum skills for the digital economy, preparing young people to manage their own money, start businesses and use new technologies, including artificial intelligence. We support full-time schooling, so that children have more time for learning, tutoring and formative activities, and are not left to fend for themselves outside school hours. We will keep schools open during vacations with “Escola nas Férias” (“School on Vacation”), offering sports, art, music and literature instead of leaving children idle. And where there are no places in the public system, the family will receive an education voucher to enroll their child in another school, because the priority is for the child to learn, not the defense of a system that has failed them. [p. 34, 35, 36]

In plain language

  • The program states that students move up a grade without learning and cites PISA, in which Brazil appears in 65th place among 81 countries in mathematics. It proposes teaching literacy through the phonics method, which teaches the child to link each sound to its letter.
  • It creates the Programa Acolher: higher-performing students are paid to tutor, in person or remotely, classmates who struggle throughout ensino fundamental. The stated goal is that no one moves up a grade without having learned.
  • It provides for managing schools by outcome and proficiency indicators and funding transfers tied to learning targets, without abandoning the regions with the greatest difficulties. Teachers would receive continuous training based on scientific evidence, and the text proposes an education without party-political indoctrination, respecting the role of families.
  • It proposes expanding the Civic-Military Schools, implementing the national policy for high-ability students, which the text says is already law, and bringing robotics, computers, tablets and internet access to schools, with digital-economy content in the curriculum: managing one’s own money, starting a business and using new technologies, such as artificial intelligence.
  • The program supports full-time schooling, provides for Escola nas Férias, with sports, art, music and literature during school vacations, and, where there are no places in the public system, an education voucher for the family to enroll their child in another school.

What is not in the program

  • It does not state the cost or funding source for the Programa Acolher, the digital equipment, full-time schooling or the education voucher.
  • It does not set the amount paid to Programa Acolher students, nor the value of the education voucher and the types of school where it could be used.
  • It does not define which indicators and learning targets would be used to tie the transfers.
  • It does not name the national policy on high abilities, nor does it set expansion targets for the Civic-Military Schools and full-time schooling.
  • It does not state timelines or which level of government would carry out each measure.