New high school: students and educators are dissatisfied – 12/15/2023 – Education

An unprecedented survey carried out by UNESCO in Brazil shows that dissatisfaction with the changes promoted by the new secondary education, which in 2017 focused on making the curriculum more flexible, is widespread among students, teachers and managers.

While 56% of students say they are dissatisfied, the rate is 76% among teachers and 66% among managers, key players in the learning process.

With the reform, it was stipulated that all students had access to an equal part of the curriculum, the so-called basic general training, which is linked to the provisions of the National Common Curricular Base. Another part was destined for deepening lines, which are called training itineraries.

The implementation, which began in 2022, revealed problems, inspiring protests from students and educators. New changes to the architecture are under discussion in Congress and represent disputes between the Lula government (PT) and the opposition over what should be defined for the working hours of each block.

The vote in the Chamber is scheduled for next week.

The UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) survey interviewed 1,200 students, 800 teachers and 400 managers between June 23rd and October 6th. The universe represented by the sample is 18 thousand schools, 481 thousand teachers and 2.1 million students, with a confidence level of 95%. The margins of error are 3% for the student sample, 4% for the teaching sample and 6% for the managers sample.

A Sheet had access to part of the survey results. UNESCO is still working on analyzing the complete data.

According to the research, teacher training for the new structure —both for basic general training and for training itineraries— was considered inadequate for around 7 out of 10 teachers. Thus, continuing training is seen as the main challenge for implementing the model, according to 74% of managers.

Following the main challenges for implementation, 67% of managers highlighted infrastructure adequacy, technical support and acquisition and preparation of teaching material. For 63% of school directors, expanding the workload is also a challenge, and, for 62%, offering in-depth courses, which are itineraries.

The coordinator of the UNESCO Education sector in Brazil, Rebeca Otero, told Sheet that the data will still be analyzed in depth, but there is a general scenario of dissatisfaction, especially with the training offered to teachers.

“The research showed that the Education departments were committed to implementation, made materials, pedagogical meetings, but there is dissatisfaction with the training”, he says. “The teacher is the key element, if he is not motivated, not valued, well trained, he does not have educational quality.”

Otero highlights that complaints about infrastructure are strong among students, but the issue that most want professional technical education, but few schools have this offer, draws attention. According to the survey, 82% of students chose technical training as an area of ​​interest, but only 27% of managers said they offered subjects or courses of this type in schools.

Students have also complained about having lost class time in traditional subjects and there are cases of content disconnected from the curriculum, such as RPG and Brigadeiro Gourmet electives, in addition to a lack of itinerary options for students.

In the opinion of critics, this itinerary model is unfeasible due to the infrastructure of public networks, which includes cities with only one high school and a lack of teachers and adequate training for the model.

The UNESCO survey shows that, according to managers, 44% of schools do not have an in-depth path — that is, they do not offer an itinerary for students. On the other hand, 85% have elective subjects and 92% offer the “life project” component, which is part of the new secondary education but whose implementation is the target of criticism among students.

It was only after the pressure of the demonstrations, which began to wear down the government, that the MEC mobilized with more emphasis to change the new secondary education. A bill was sent to Congress in October.

The person appointed to be the rapporteur of this text in the Chamber was deputy Mendonça Filho (União-PE), who was Minister of Education in the Michel Temer government (MDB), when the reform was stipulated.

In the report presented by the deputy, there is a forecast of increasing the workload of the common part, the so-called Basic General Training, from the current 1,800 hours to 2,100 hours — considering the total workload of 3,000 hours of secondary education. This is below the proposal presented by the Lula government, which wants to expand this block to 2,400 hours.

The government text allows flexibility in the general training load, to 2,100, in the case of professional education courses of 1,200 hours.

The government understands that Mendonça’s text will not resolve the dissatisfaction of students and educators. At the beginning of the week, the Executive removed the urgency regime from the matter to delay the vote. Opposition parliamentarians, however, managed to approve the resumption of urgency with a comfortable score: 351 to 102.

The balance shows that the government’s proposal and arguments were not strong enough to sensitize deputies. The forecast is that Mendonça Filho’s report will be voted on next Tuesday (19). If approved, it will go to the Senate.

This process exposes a bad relationship between the Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, and the President of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL). Both for appointing Temer’s former minister as rapporteur and for encouraging the agenda to progress.

Interlocutors Camilo Santana said that the government will insist on the proposal, including in the Senate, under the argument that the government’s project is the result of a public consultation carried out and consensus among educational entities, such as Consed (which brings together Education Secretaries of the States). Consed, in turn, announced that it was aligned with the rapporteur’s proposal.

Regarding the itineraries, the replacement provides for a workload of 900 hours, over the three years, and maintains the four options that are in force today, in addition to the possibility of vocational technical education: languages ​​and their technologies, mathematics and their technologies, computer science nature and its technologies and applied human and social sciences.