Coming from technology, Feder accelerates digitization in SP – 08/14/2023 – Education

Entrepreneur in the technology sector, Renato Feder has determined the use of seven applications in state schools in São Paulo since he took charge of the Secretary of Education under Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), eight months ago.

During this period, he has been betting on the digitization of teaching. The plan faces challenges, however, such as the lack of equipment and internet in all units.

The secretariat says it is in the process of “implementing a technology package to make the school more modern and attractive to students”.

Feder announced that he would give up books provided by the federal government to use only digital teaching material made by his team. After criticism and the opening of an inquiry by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Tarcísio administration partially retreated and announced that it will keep the printed material.

With a degree in business administration and CEO for 15 years at Multilaser —a technology equipment company—, Feder defends that the work of teachers in schools is monitored by metrics. Therefore, it bets on digital platforms to monitor activities.

According to the 2022 School Census, 96.9% of state schools in São Paulo have internet, and 81.5% of them offer connectivity for students to use.

Even though coverage is high, data from the Map of Connectivity in Education show that only 4.4% of state teaching units in São Paulo have internet with a speed considered good or excellent. In 66.2% the speed is bad or terrible. In the rest, there was no monitoring.

The secretariat admits that it does not yet have computers for all students. With more than 3.5 million students, the network has 900,000 devices (including tablets, notebooks and desktops).

“This number guarantees an average of four students per device and sufficient coverage for using the equipment in rotation”, says the folder.

One of the first announcements made by the secretary was the Aluno Presente application, in which teachers must record student absences. Then, he decided that schools should apply simulations of the Prova Paulista online, also by application.

A week after the launch, the apps had problems and many schools had to postpone the simulations. Teachers report that instabilities in the system are common and that they end up having to record the call manually and then post the information on the platform —which doubles the time spent.

On the return of the school recess in July, the secretary further reinforced the requirement for the use of technologies. As of this second semester, the units must incorporate five more education platforms into their classes.

Teachers were instructed to use the Tarefa SP platform daily to submit homework. The secretariat’s guidance is that teachers give a deadline of 48 hours for students to do the exercises.

Another platform is Leia SP, which aims to ensure that students read a book every two months. The digital collection gives access to 90 titles selected by the folder itself. The list includes bestsellers, classics of national and foreign literature and books on entrepreneurship.

Schools also need to use the Redação Paulista platform, with the goal of ensuring that students write one essay per month. They also need to use Khan Academy, with a goal of at least 30 minutes per week for students. And the Me Saves platform! preparation for the Enem for students in the third year of high school —the goal is for all students to do at least 20 exercises per week.

For network teachers heard by the Sheet, the implementation has taken place without considering the reality and needs of the units, which has generated wear and tear in the school environment. As there is no adequate structure, they say they lose class time when the platforms have problems or they need to use their cell phone’s internet to access them.

They also complain of less autonomy to conduct classes, since all content and activities must follow what the platforms determine.

“To meet all these goals, the teacher cannot teach his class. He only has time to follow the instructions on the platforms, he becomes just an application executor. It is a disrespect for the training, knowledge and experience of the teachers”, says Fernando Cássio, researcher at Repu (Public School and University Network).

Rose Neubauer, former Secretary of Education for São Paulo, says that digital tools can be a beneficial complement to teaching, but that this needs to be presented to teachers. “It’s important to show results and evidence of benefits, otherwise it becomes just an obligation or a roadmap to be followed”, she says.

In addition, she points out that these tools need to be integrated with traditional resources, such as books and handouts.

questioned by Sheetthe secretariat did not inform the costs of using these platforms nor did it detail how the companies that are offering these services to schools were chosen.

“The platforms are provided in different ways, either through agreements, partnerships or developed internally by the technology team, after evaluation and careful selection by Seduc’s technical areas”, he said in a note.

Regarding the goals required for using the platforms, the secretariat said that “teachers and students have pedagogical objectives to be achieved, but they will not be punished in any way if these are not achieved”.

The folder did not inform which applications are developed by the secretariat’s own team. At least two of these platforms are developed by companies, Khan Academy and Me Salva!. A Sheet tried to contact those responsible for them, but received no response. Multilaser, on the other hand, stated that the secretary left the company in 2018.