Last week, the publication of the Provisional Measure for New High School it provoked discussions and reflections on the future of education in the country. Amid heated debates on social networks, three private schools spoke with Brasil Escola about the changes that MP no. 746 wants to implement.
See what will change in high school
The pedagogical coordinator of Colégio Oficina do Estudante, Campinas/SP, Célio Tasinafo, evaluates the changes as positive. “The change is important because our secondary education was stuck and with unsatisfactory numbers” [referring to the Basic Education Development Index – Ideb].
Teaching in a plaster cast was also one of the arguments used by the pedagogical coordinator of Colégio Mopi, in Rio de Janeiro, Hélcio Alvim, to defend changes in secondary education. According to the coordinator, the fact that schools always have the same curriculum makes teaching boring and unpleasant for some student profiles.
The technical team and teaching staff at Colégio Dínamis, in Rio de Janeiro, also agree with the flexibility of the high school curriculum. The school understands that it must adapt the content to the real interest of the student. “We do much more effectively what we like to do. When students study with pleasure, their production is much higher”.
In addition to making the curriculum more flexible, schools agree with full-time teaching. “The place for children and teenagers is at school,” stated Colégio Dínamis. However, the coordinator of Colégio Mopi warns that the increase in hours will be useless if it is not accompanied by a conception of the role of the school. “More than full-time, a full-time education is defended, an education of the human being in its entirety”, comments Hélcio.
Caution
Despite being in favor of the changes, the schools urge caution when evaluating how the new high school will be. “We still don't know how the schools will implement the changes, how the content will be organized from the 1st year of high school onwards. We have to wait for the debate of the MP in Congress”, evaluates Célio Tasinafo.
Célio is in favor of the changes, but he still has doubts about the implementation
Pedagogical coordinators are also cautious about excluding high school subjects. The MP excludes excerpts from the Law of Guidelines and Bases of Education (LDB) that made the teaching of Arts, Physical Education, Sociology and Philosophy mandatory in high school. However, the MEC stated that these subjects will be part of the National Common Curriculum Base (BNCC), which will be taught until the middle of high school.
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According to Hélcio Alvim, it is necessary to wait a while for it to become clearer what the government wants. "After this new news that the MEC would wait for the completion of the Common National Curriculum Base to take any action in relation to specific disciplines such as Arts, Sociology, Physical Education and Philosophy – it is important that we wait before issuing any opinion. However, on our part, it is essential that these subjects do not disappear from the high school curriculum”.
If these subjects are excluded from the curriculum, Célio Tasinafo comments that they can be taught in specific areas. “The discipline of Arts can be incorporated into Languages. We already do this with frame analysis, for example. Philosophy and Sociology, on the other hand, can be included in the Humanities module”.
As for Physical Education, Célio is in favor of exclusion, as currently the subject does not have a content and the student can practice physical activities outside of school. “Physical Education in schools is a holdover from the military dictatorship and most of the classes are playing ball and that's it. The student can do Physical Education outside of school, in an academy, different from learning Physics, for example”.
Reviews
The Mopi school evaluates that “the Provisional Measure is not the best way to guarantee participation democracy of educators, students and families, who together make up the general framework of education". According to the school in Rio de Janeiro, the ideal was to have a discussion with representatives from different areas of education beforehand.
Hélcio Alvim also claims that Brazilian schools are not prepared for full-time. “The public ones, which hold more than 80% of high school enrollments, have issues both of space and of educators. The private ones, implemented full-time, in addition to the space issue, will have the cost factor, which is not simple to be solved and can be an unfeasible path for many families”.