Brazilian educator and psychologist born in Porto Ferreira, SP, who carried out an important work of reformulation of teaching in Brazil and other Latin American countries, for which he earned the title of Mestre das Americas. Son of a Portuguese father and a Swedish mother, he studied at the Escola Normal of São Paulo and then (1918) abandoned medical school in the second year and dedicated himself to teaching. A teacher at normal schools in São Paulo, he accepted an invitation from the governor of Ceará (1922) to reorganize public education in the state.
Returning to São Paulo, he was the general director of education in the state (1930-1931), when he developed a remarkable work of reformulating the normal and professional education in his state. The following year (1932), he went to Rio de Janeiro, then the federal capital, held the functions of chief of staff to the Minister of Education Francisco Campos and director of the Instituto de Educação. After a study trip to the United States, he was professor of educational psychology at the Federal District University School of Education and director of the same school (1935).
Member of the National Council of Education and general director of the National Department of Education (1937), he organized the National Institute of Pedagogical Studies (INEP) and was its director (1938-1946). after leaving INEP (1936), he taught courses at Latin American universities and collaborated (1944) in Paraguay's education reform. He organized and directed the Inter-American Adult Literacy Seminar (1949), during which he received the title of maestro de las Américas.
He died in Rio de Janeiro and among his works stood out Juazeiro by Padre Cícero (1926), Introduction to the study of the new school (1930), a fundamental work on the psychological and biological foundations of the new pedagogical doctrines of the 20th century, Trends in Brazilian Education (1940) and The Pedagogy of Rui Barbosa (1954).
Source: http://www.dec.ufcg.edu.br/biografias/
Order M - Biography - Brazil School
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/biografia/manuel-bergstrom-lourenco-filho.htm