Senator Pedro Chaves (PSC-MS), rapporteur of the Interim Measure for High School (MP 746/2016), included in its report the obligatory nature of the subjects of Arts and Physical Education in high school. The report was presented this Tuesday, November 29, at the joint committee that discusses the MP.
The exclusion of the disciplines of Arts, Physical Education, Philosophy and Sociology from high school is the most controversial point of the MP. The original text of the Provisional Media removes the articles of the Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education (LDB) that dealt with the mandatory nature of these disciplines.
In the original text of the MP, the mandatory subjects of Arts and Physical Education are restricted to kindergarten and elementary school. On the other hand, item IV of article 36 of the LDB, which talked about the teaching of Philosophy and Sociology, was replaced by the optional teaching of Human Sciences.
See the original text of the High School MP
According to the rapporteur, Arts and Physical Education were included because "the integral formation of the human being requires the service of various dimensions, among which corporeality, movement and fruition cannot be disregarded".
In relation to the disciplines of Philosophy and Sociology, Senator Pedro Chaves stated that this discussion will be made by the National Council of Education, in the definition of the Common National Base Curriculum (BNCC). Possibly, these disciplines will be part of the Human Sciences area.
Workload
The MP's rapporteur also expanded the BNCC's workload from 50% to 60% of high school. The remaining workload (40%) will consist of specific areas: Languages, Mathematics, Human Sciences, Natural Sciences and Technical and Professional Training.
The MP proposed that the BNCC content be taught until the middle of the second year of high school, when the student would start receiving classes in the chosen area. Now, the report proposes that the contents of the BNCC and specific areas be taught in parallel throughout high school, with the student choosing the area in the first year.
What is your opinion about the high school MP?
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
The report also presents other names for the specific areas: Languages and their Technologies; Science of Nature and its Technologies; Applied Human and Social Sciences; Mathematics and its Technologies; and Technical and Professional Training.
Senator Pedro Chaves also proposes an intermediate goal of expanding the workload. The original text speaks of 1,400 hours a year, that is, schools operating full-time, with seven hours of classes a day Monday through Friday. The new target is 1,000 hours per year, five hours a day, within a maximum period of five years. In the case of evening education and youth and adult education (EJA), adjustments will be made, such as learning through projects involving transversal themes.
teachers
The end of mandatory diploma in related area for teachers of technical and professional training, another controversial point of the MP, was maintained. According to the rapporteur, "such a measure, at the same time that it requires minimal pedagogical training, relieves the system and increases, in the school space, the possibilities of acting and meeting the needs of the students".
The report also removes from the LDB the exclusivity of universities and higher education institutes in the training of teachers to work in basic education. Pedro Chaves noted that isolated colleges, accredited by the Ministry of Education, not linked to institutes or universities, offer this training.
Finally, the report adds an article to foresee the possibility of the regime in which a teacher teaches at the same school for more than one shift, as long as it does not exceed the weekly shift.
Next steps
The vote on the report was postponed, as senator Fátima Bezerra (PT-RN) asked to be seen. Discussion of the project will resume tomorrow, the 30th, from 10 am. After the report is voted on, the text of the MP must be approved by the Chamber and the Senate. This needs to happen by March 2, 2017, when it expires.
*With information from Agênca Senado and Agência Brasil