Education depends more on good management than on resources – 04/05/2024 – Laura Machado

Brazil has well-established goals for basic education. Some are constitutional, such as article 208 of the Federal Constitution, which determines that basic education is mandatory and free for everyone from 4 to 17 years of age. Others are defined by law, such as the 20 goals of the National Education Plan (PNE). Even with the objectives outlined, the country slips in the basics.

In 2021, at the end of elementary school, less than 35% and 15% of students had adequate learning in Portuguese and mathematics, respectively, on the Saeb scale (Basic Education Assessment System).

Today, we have instruments such as Fundeb (Fund for Maintenance and Development of Basic Education and Valorization of Education Professionals) to increase the volume of resources allocated to education. However, it is leadership and the quality of allocation of available resources that seem to account for the improvement in results.

Considering that Brazil already has strategies to increase the value of educational spending, we need to think about the quality of this spending, that is, the decisions to allocate this budget.

Although the average learning performance is low, we have territories with good results. When we cross-reference data from the National Treasury and Inep, we see that the municipality of Granja, in Ceará, spent around R$1,200 per student and obtained a result of 8.5 on the Ideb in the final years. With a similar value per student, the municipality of São Paulo de Olivença, in Amazonas, had a result of 2. This is a difference of 6 points in cities with similar spending per student.

Among the more than 5,500 Brazilian municipalities, the difference in learning results is enormous.

Fundeb has not only increased education resources but is also concerned with equalizing resource inequality: it redistributes funds so that municipal networks receive the same amount per person.

Therefore, thanks to the fund, the amount spent per student is now greater and more equal. But data from the Treasury show that the inequality in results is, for the most part, in the quality of spending.

A 15% increase in education resources generates a 2% increase in results, going from an average Ideb of 5 to 5.1 in the final years of elementary school. It is possible, of course, to reduce inequality by increasing spending on education, however, as 86% of inequality is between municipalities that spend the same amount, we need to rethink educational management.

The main cause of inequality in Ideb scores is related to the quality of spending in the territories, educational leadership and the management capacity of networks. What explains the difference in results between municipalities that receive the same amount? More accurate decisions about the use of resources.

In this scenario, public educational policy should follow the same trajectory as Chile’s “Se Puede” program. The Chilean educational system has a team that goes to the best performing schools and networks (such as the one in the municipality of Granja, in Ceará) and documents management, leadership and resource use practices.

The compilation of these practices is documented in an annual book generated by the country’s Ministry of Education, which is shared with all Chilean schools and networks, in order to encourage good practices to be accessible and capable of incorporation and adaptation.

We do not lack data to identify networks that do good work, we need to share good examples and have the correct incentives for them to be incorporated.

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