Brazil Educa

As explained by Alves (2008) Formal Education was introduced in Brazil by Catholic leaders, the Jesuits, which arrived with Portuguese Colonizers around the year 1500. According to this author, education was mainly religious, there were no laws regarding it and it was not seen as important due to the Portuguese mentality of exploitation of the Colony instead of development. Also, women and people considered slaves were not seen as people who could benefit from education and most white men went to Europe to study, so schools were mostly attended by mestizo men born in Brazil. At the beginning of the XIX century, the Portuguese Royal Family moved to Brazil escaping from the Napoleonic Invasion and education started to get some attention. They established Higher Education Institutions (mostly military and medical schools), but there was no importance given to primary and secondary education (Alves, 2008). Only at the beginning of the XX century, some reforms tried to establish a mor...

In Brazil, the Government Bodies responsible for the Educational System are divided at National, State, and Municipal level (do Brasil, 1988). They have different responsibilities as shown below (BRASIL, 1996): This division creates a good amount of autonomy as states and municipalities can adapt their school systems to specific regional characteristics, for example, schools located in rural areas can adjust the school calendar based on the planting and harvesting periods or schools located in indigenous areas can offer courses in the local native language. Concerning the National Plan for Education, the National Strategy for Institutional Development of Education approved in Brazil in 2014 with goals to be met until 2024, States and municipalities also had autonomy to create their own strategic plan based on the National one (Lima, 2015) As for funding, the Constitution (do Brasil, 1988) requires states and municipalities to apply at least 25% of their revenue resulting fr...

Today in Brazil, there is not a national curriculum that all schools have to follow. There are general guidelines and states, municipalities and schools can propose their own curriculum during Basic Education. However they have to respect this national guidelines. National guidelines to be observed when creating a curriculum are: "I - the dissemination of fundamental values to the social interest, the rights and duties of citizens, respect for the common good and democratic order; II - consideration of the educational conditions of the students in each establishment; III - work orientation; IV - promotion of sport and support for non-formal sports." (BRASIL, 1996) As for the content, the curricula must have Common Components - must be present in all curricula - and Diversified ones, based on the specific context of each school systems. Common Components include the study of portuguese, english, mathematics, the physical and natural world, and social and political ...

Basic Education in Brazil comprises Child, Primary and Secondary Education. As Regular Education it is offered as described bellow, but in some exceptional cases it is offered in different modalities to be explained in another post. Basic education is mandatory to all Brazilians from 4 to 17 years old and it is offered by public institutions for free. Besides, it is also offered by private institutions that can charge freely for the services provided. Teachers schooling these phases need at least a certificate of Secondary Education, proven pedagogy and didactic knowledge, as well as, specific knowledge related to the subject taught. On this post, you will find a brief description of the formal curriculum exploring aims, workload and general guidelines for the curriculum in all the levels of Basic Education (BRASIL, 1996). Child education Aim Physical, psychological, intellectual and social aspects should be developed complementing the action of the family and the comm...

As in Basic Education, Higher education can be delivered by Public and Private institutions. The public ones offer free education for everyone and the private ones, paid education. Private institutions can only exist if approved by the government and if the course is well evaluated yearly. Both have autonomy to create the curriculum for every course respecting the general guidelines explained later on this post. To be a Professor at a Higher Education Institution, having at least a Master's degree is demanded. This degree has to be on the specific area the future Professor would like to taught. As for the progression on the Professor's Career, there is a know career path but ascending on it depends on the amount of certificates and published material. Courses and degrees awarded in Higher Education Institutions: Technical education (2 to 3 years of duration) Certificate: Technical degree Undergraduate education (4 to 6 years) Certificate: Bachelor, Licence, and...

References: INEP . (2017).  Inep.gov.br . Retrieved 26 October 2017, from http://inep.gov.br