MEC should start listening to students about new high school – 04/18/2023 – Education

The MEC (Ministry of Education) defined part of the schedule for public activities of the planned consultations on the new high school, which was the target of criticism. The federal government already has dates for two listening processes, aimed at students and the general population.

One of the main actions in this process should be launched on May 8, with a hearing that intends to reach 100,000 high school students but also administrators. This must occur through WhatsApp, such as Sheet had advanced.

According to MEC’s ​​executive secretary, Izolda Cela, this listening will be more qualified, with QR codes targeted at strategic audiences and with a set of structured questions.

The department also prepares face-to-face public hearings, some in partnership with entities such as Ubes (Brazilian Union of Secondary Students) and Anped (National Association of Graduate Studies and Research in Education).

In addition to listening through WhatsApp, the MEC will open another consultation, this time general to the entire population, on the Participa Mais Brasil platform. This should take place from April 24th, when the timetable for all facets of the public consultation will be released.

The opening of this listening process, in March of this year, was the first nod by the Lula government to critics of the secondary education reform, whose implementation has accumulated problems. This process provides for surveys and meetings, but no public activity has been carried out so far.

At the beginning of the month, pressured by the growing criticism from educators and students, the government gave one more signal: it decided to suspend the implementation schedule of the new secondary education and changes planned for the 2024 Enem.

“On the 24th, the schedule of this consultation will be made available, which will consist of research, quantitative and qualitative, with a research more directed towards youth, including via WhatsApp”, said Izolda at the Annual Meeting Educação Já, of the Todos pela Educação Movement, this Tuesday -Friday (18).

The Lula government does not agree to revoke the secondary education reform, but defends adjustments.

“To this day I haven’t heard anyone say that everything is in a thousand wonders [na reforma] and let’s stay in the comfort zone. Everyone thinks it is necessary to identify design issues, some relational points to the configuration related to the curriculum”, said the executive secretary of the MEC, who stressed that the MEC does not want to fall into what she called polarization on the subject.

MEC’s ​​Secretary of Basic Education, Kátia Schweickardt, said that creating an effective listening environment is not simple. Therefore, the delay in starting public hearings and consultations.

Even without having carried out public activities, the deadline for this to be done, of 90 days, has been running since the beginning of March. The MEC summit admits the extension, since the works are in progress, according to Izolda at the Todos Pela Educação event.

The suspension of the schedule for the new high school was decided, in large part, as a way to alleviate the wear and tear that the government has been feeling with the movement that calls for the repeal of the reform.

An ordinance was published on March 5 with the suspension of deadlines, whose greatest effect is the interruption of the Enem adaptation process. It is valid for up to 60 days after the end of the consultation.

There is no forecast that teaching networks and schools will go back in the implementation process, which started in schools in 2022.

In addition to the public hearings and the process of listening to students, workshops, seminars and national surveys are planned with teachers and school administrators on the experience of implementing the new secondary education. This is determined in the ordinance that established the consultation.

This ordinance also created a working group to discuss the issue, under the coordination of the MEC. It is made up of the CNE (National Council of Education), Foncede (National Forum of State and District Councils of Education) and Consed (National Council of Secretaries of Education).

In general terms, the policy reformulated the curriculum for the final years of basic education, so as to provide that 40% of the load is allocated to elective subjects organized within large areas of knowledge, the so-called training itineraries. Thus, traditional subjects, common to students, are limited to 60% of the curriculum.

The implementation of the new format became mandatory in 2022 and has registered a series of problems. Students mainly complain about having lost class time in traditional subjects. There are cases of content disconnected from the curriculum and lack of options for students.

In 2023, the change continued for 2nd year students and, in 2024, it would reach the 3rd classes, completing high school. Even in the face of strong criticism of the precariousness of the school offer, this schedule was being followed by the education networks.

Data from the 2022 School Census, the most recent, indicate that 2.9 million students were in the 1st year and, discounting dropout and dropout rates, would be able to attend the 2nd year in 2023 —thus being a potential contingent of Enem candidates in 2024, when they should complete high school