New high school: We can’t fall into a bottomless pit – 05/04/2023 – Education

In 2018, still as Minister of Education, I made a strong statement regarding the reality of secondary education in Brazil. At that moment, far from imagining that we would face a pandemic two years later, I said that secondary education in Brazil had reached rock bottom.

The declaration had repercussions, dividing opinions, but the main point was made: it was no longer possible for the authorities to hide the educational reality of Brazilian society. Everyone knew that the problem was serious, but no authority had the courage to assume it publicly.

To get an idea of ​​the seriousness of the problem we were facing, at that time, according to the Basic Education Assessment System (Saeb), less than 5% of students at the end of high school in public networks knew what was expected in Portuguese and mathematics. I bring this memory of 2018 to reflect on what our future will be like if, in the present, we allow the new secondary education to be revoked without there being an evaluation of its implementation to correct any deviations and we follow a shallow path that is guided by political issues.

The new high school came to give a new structure to a teaching process outdated for the real needs of today’s students. Our discussion should not be centered on an absurd expectation that the law will be repealed, but on how best to adapt this stage, what are the implementation challenges and what can be improved to meet the reality that is imposed on the daily lives of schools Brazilian.

During the discussion for the approval of the new secondary education, we presented the legal frameworks and evaluation results that pointed to the need for more urgent changes in this last stage of basic education. Several sectors of society and educational instances participated in this process that preceded the approval of Law No. 13,415, on the new secondary education.

The elaboration process of this law was the result of discussions and documents spanning almost three decades, since the approval of the Law of Guidelines and Bases (1996); the debate and approval of secondary education guidelines (1998); the National Seminar on Secondary Education Reform (2002); from Fundeb with a focus on guaranteeing the universalization of secondary education (2007); the launching, by MEC, of ​​the Plan of Articulated Actions (2007); the new Enem (2009); the Innovative High School Program (2010); the creation in the National Council of Secretaries of Education (Consed) of the working group on the Reform of Secondary Education (2010); the National Curriculum Guidelines for secondary education approved by the CNE (2012); and the Bill (PL 6840/2013) and the PNE (National Education Plan, 2014). As is clear, the new secondary education was discussed by several governments.

The discussion of secondary education should be based on the necessary adjustments for its effectiveness, focused on the idea of ​​supporting and encouraging students in their life projects and not on learning many things in a shallow way. That’s what the new model is all about. Instead of that, we should be discussing the initial training of teachers, effective support for our children’s literacy at the right age, support for the development of socio-emotional skills that support our students in overcoming the challenges that the 21st century imposes, quality continuing education that supports our teachers in the classroom.

The new secondary education model seeks to correct the distortions that Brazil still has at this stage of education in terms of structure and balance the measures that are already adopted by other countries, such as Chile, Australia, the United States, and many others. Now we are giving students access to all the essential learnings of the curricular components, in addition to deepening those in which they are most interested. The training itinerary, as the flexible part of the curriculum is called, helps students to be better prepared for the world of work based on their dreams, gifts and vocations.

Does anyone think it believable that we have a new discussion of this magnitude to advance in another curricular structure that responds to the challenges of the future and not the pressures of the past? Either we have the courage to face the necessary changes or Brazil will continue to produce generations that do not study, do not work and also do not enter the job market or a higher education course.