60% do not learn the basics of reading in schools with violence – 02/09/2023 – Education

In schools with a bad school climate, 60% of children reach the fourth grade of elementary school without having learned the most basic reading skills, such as identifying and understanding information explicitly stated in the text.

The data is from a study carried out by Iede (Interdisciplinarity and Evidence in the Educational Debate), which analyzed the results of Brazilian students in the evaluation of the Pirls (English acronym for Progress in International Reading Literacy Study).

The evaluation is carried out with children in this grade (when, in general, they are ten years old) to analyze how much literacy is consolidated. According to those responsible for Pirls, the fourth year is considered a transition point in the development of students, when they move from learning to read to “reading to learn”.

Brazil’s general performance indicated that 38.4% of children reached the fourth year without the skills considered appropriate for their age in reading, one of the lowest rates found among the countries analyzed. Iede’s work, however, identified that the Brazilian scenario is even more critical in the face of educational inequality.

“The general average in Brazil is very low and worrying, but it hides the reality of the majority of students, which is even more serious. Students with low socioeconomic status and in schools with a bad school climate have had even less opportunity to learn what they are entitled to “, says Ernesto Faria, executive director of Iede.

To identify Brazilian inequalities, Iede analyzed the averages of schools with different realities.

Among the units that directors say have most students in an “economically disadvantaged” situation (which represent 51% of Brazilian students) and with a school climate considered good, 47% of children do not reach the appropriate level.

Among students with disadvantaged economic situation and who are in schools with a school climate considered bad (with cases of internal and surrounding violence), the averages are even lower – 60% do not reach the basic level.

“Several evaluations point out that the poorest children have less opportunity to learn, but this analysis shows us that it is even worse when schools do not receive support and have to deal with complex external issues”, says Faria.

For him, the data indicate that progress in children’s learning does not depend only on pedagogical support, but on a systemic policy that is integrated with other areas to improve the school environment.

“External issues have a very important weight on student learning and, even so, schools continue to have to deal with them alone. Violence, poverty, social vulnerability are factors that schools cannot solve, but that can have their impact minimized if there is a policy aimed at this”, says Faria.

Beatriz Abuchaim, manager of the Maria Cecília Souto Vidigal Foundation, is also concerned about the low results of the most vulnerable children at the beginning of school life. “The impairment of the literacy process tends to follow the student’s entire school trajectory and then be reflected in worse employment and income conditions. It is a very perverse chain effect.”

For her, a systemic and integrated policy needs to be implemented urgently in the country and be thought of from early childhood education.

“The most vulnerable children today have less guaranteed access to daycare. Or, when they do, they receive low-quality early childhood education. This has repercussions in the early years of elementary school, when they begin to learn how to read and write,” he says.

The analysis also shows that economic vulnerability and difficult school climate accentuate the difference between boys and girls.

In the overall average, girls have an average score of 431 points, “significantly higher than the average score for boys”, of 408 points. A difference of 23 points.

In schools, which mostly serve students at an economic disadvantage, the difference is 29.6 points. The girls reached an average score of 393.2 points and the boys, 363.6.

“A more careful analysis is needed to understand this difference, but the need for action to mitigate gender inequality is clear. In general, boys are more associated with indiscipline rates and this may be related to the difficulty they face in learning ’ says Faria.

Pirls is an assessment made by the IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement), a cooperative of research institutions, government agencies and experts dedicated to conducting educational studies and research.

The results are from the evaluation applied in 2021, when Brazil participated for the first time.

The assessment covered more than 400,000 students in approximately 13,000 schools in 57 countries and eight regions. In Brazil, 4,941 students from 187 fourth-year public and private schools took the test.

Because it was held in 2021, the test reflects the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent closure of schools.

Brazilian students scored an average of 419 points. This performance is second only to Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and South Africa, the latter with an average of 288 points. It is similar, on the other hand, to the outcome for Kosovo and Iran.

The Iede analysis shows that the average of schools with economically disadvantaged students was 390 points. In developed countries, such as Italy, Holland and Spain, there are no students with less than 400 points.