The Brazilian education system is very complex, and so, I post this blog with a disclaimer. This is my best effort at summarizing my many experiences and translated conversations with educational professionals. I hope that as I try to make sense of the many-tiered, complicated system, I have not made any egregious errors.
In General
In Brazil, education is compulsory up until 9th grade, or around age 14. I believe that the students attend city schools for this primary education. After this basic education, students must take a test to earn a position in either a state or federal “high school”, although, I think they do not call the schools “high school”, this is just the North American equivalent. When a student earns a position into a secondary school, there is no tuition. According to the Culture Grams 2010, about 40% of students enter into the secondary level of education. it was my opinion from my interviews that there is a desire for this number to increase, but currently, the infrastructure is not primed to accept full enrollment, nor the government ready to mandate such enrollment nor fund it.
In hindsight, I did not ask about truancy, either on the basic education level or on the secondary level. I wonder if there are penalties for not attending school?
The directors of all the schools I visited served more as heads of a business than as academic advisers—each boasted of their efforts to fund-raise for supplies: air conditioners; libraries; desks and chairs; and paper ,to name a few of the financial achievements shared with me as I toured facilities.
In some schools, students wear uniforms—typically school or class T-shirts. The dress code is very casual with more shorts and jeans than slacks and skirts. Teachers also dress more for the casual and comfortable. I suspect the typically warm weather has something to do with this. Most of the schools I visited did not have air conditioning, only fans. So the classrooms were quite warm.
Federal and State Schools
In the federal schools, students can earn a trade certification, such as the small building engineer or the computer technician certifications offered at the Uruaçu campus that was my exchange home. The schedule appears to be similar to a college-style schedule with classes offered at different times, not one, set, daily schedule repeated over five days, as is typical of North American compulsory education. I do not think that state schools offer the certifications and would be best compared as a more typical, North American high school where the aim is to prepare a student for post-secondary education. The schedules for the state school students resemble a model more familiar to me. They start classes at 7:00a.m. and continue until 12:00 noon, following the same schedule daily. Students go home for a two-hour lunch and have the opportunity to return for additional schooling and extracurricular activities (at the Federal schools students are required to fulfill a certain amount of extracurricular activity time, which would take place after 2:00 p.m. or the end of the lunch break). The federal schools also offer a mix of high school and college courses with a few degrees granted for four-year study.
The federal system is a vast web of schools throughout the country with the density of schools matching the density of the population. There is a greater number of federal schools along the east coast and concentrated around the big cities. The small city I visited services students who are bused in from as far away as 50 miles (maybe that was kilometers)…but still, it is quite a far distance—especially when one considers that the evening/adult education classes end at 10:00 and the students don’t get home until midnight.
In the federal school I had the opportunity to spend the most time, my host school, the academic focus is on technical and practical studies. As a language teacher, I was surprised that students studying Portuguese (literature, writing, and grammar) met only once a week for a single 90 minute period. The same is true for students taking a second language course—one period a week for 90 minutes. In many ways, Brazil is very much like the US in that both countries conduct business in and educate for primarily a single language. Due to this “language-centric” view, it is not surprising to learn that few people speak English. Interestingly, many of the English Language teachers instruct on theory and grammatical structure and not conversation. I met language teachers who did not have enough speaking skills to conduct a conversation above simple pleasantries.
Post-Secondary Education
Students wishing to pursue post-secondary education have many opportunities, but must pass a difficult entrance test and compete for a limited number of positions. Again, once accepted, there is no fee for the courses. My impression is that there are a disproportionate numbers of applicants to spaces available. Hopeful students can also apply to a private college or university, which charge tuition. There are many of these due to the demands of Brazil’s growing middle class, according to the Website, Country Studies.us/brazil. Entrance exams are also a requirement for private schools.
Now What?
As with everything interesting to a teacher, I have a off-shoots of ideas and questions for which I would like to have stronger answers. As I explore these avenues, I am sure that my perceptions will develop and change. As I often say about myself...so is this blog a work in progress...
