My experience
As my father was a military I attended a full-time Daycare and Preschool at the military base from 4 months old until 5 years old, it was called Ciranda. Despite of being a military school there were no special activities or contents because of this. 
I remember we had a lot of birthday parties at school and the routine was really important (classes, lunch, nap time and shower before going home). Classes included drawing, playing, dancing,
theater and others. All of the important national dates were celebrated and we prepared presentations for parents in some of them, such as Easter or Christmas.
There were about 15 children in my class and 2 teachers that we called "Tias", aunts in English, instead of Teachers. Calling them like this is a demonstration of affection. We had a diary in which they would write everyday to our mothers about how our day at school had been. The things they wrote show real concern for the children as a unique human beings and not only as a students, what demonstrates a more student-centered teaching approach. Teachers would also make a final report about my performance during the year writing about my cognitive, emotional and psychomotor development. The non technical abilities were appreciated as much as the technical ones.
After Child Education my mother decided I should study to pass an exam to study at a military school during the Final Years of Primary Education and the Secondary Education. She made this decision because the school was known as good and it had really low tuition fees compared to other schools with the same quality. Good quality was measured by the amount of students that went directly from Secondary Education to Public Universities.
So, during the Initial Years of the Primary Education, I studied at a private school that prepared children for this exam. I started to have one teacher per subject (Portuguese, Math, History, Geography, Physical Education, Arts and Sciences - foreign languages were not taught at the time) and we would also practice what they called "Civic Hour" a moment when all the students gathered to sing the national anthem. This was also a preparation for the military school. My classes had between 25 and 30 students and were teacher-centered, so we only had to listen, copy and do lots of homework.
We had a lot of exams that simulated the entrance exam for the military school and the school always ranked students based on their scores on these exams, so it was a very competitive environment.
This entrance exam was taken at the end of the Initial Years (called 4th year at the time) but unfortunately, I did not pass it at the time. However, I decided to try again, so I continued studying for it at this preparatory school (on the 5th year) in the morning and during the afternoon I did a special course in another private school that prepared students for this exam too.
I was approved at the end of this year (2002) and I joined the military school the next year, doing the 5th grade again. Until today many students do this (5th grade 2 times) to be able to enter the school.
The Final Years of the Primary Education at the military school were really easy for me because I had already studied all the content to take the entrance exam. However, I had to adapt to the new rules that went from basic things such as how to dress the different uniforms, tie my hair or paint my nails (only on bright colors) to more complex things as respect hierarchy without questioning it. We had classes in the afternoon, from 13h until 18h with two 15 min breaks and one 30 min break during this period. There were also new subjects: civic education and a second language we could choose. In my case I chose English.
Exams were mainly the same as before, multiple choice or writing questions, always with closed books. They would happen once a month and we did not have group works, most exams were individual assignments.
When the Secondary began I had morning classes (from 7h until 12h45, same breaks as before) and other subjects were added to the curriculum: Philosophy, Sociology, Chemistry and Physics. We started to prepare for the Public University's entrance exam and the school also encouraged students to participate in Math and Astronomy Olympics and in UN simulations. They would provide extra classes and tutoring for those who where interested. I participated in all of those and even traveled to other cities to represent my school.
In the middle of my last year in Secondary I decided to take the Public University entrance exam and chose Psychology as my major. I was approved and the school gave me permission to finish the Secondary Education early, so I started my undergraduate course in Psychology in 2009.
I studied Psychology for 6 years, during which I participate in many parallel learning and research activities at the University, such as the psychology junior enterprise and research study groups about social psychology, work psychology and educational psychology.
This major had three options of certification Psychologist, Bachelor in Psychology and Licensed in Psychology. Most of their curriculum were the same but each had a few specific courses and a specific graduation requirement (internship, final paper or teaching experience). I chose the Psychologist and Bachelor in Psychology path.
We had mainly teacher-centered theoretical classes, but we had more practical activities such as reflective group works, research projects and portfolios as final exams. We had to do three supervised internships (for the Psychologist option) which gave me a sense of the practical skills I needed to work as a psychologist. I did one internship at a clinical facility where I met adolescents and their families, one in a private company where I worked as HR business partner taking care of selection and training processes and another one in a public school where I worked in a special program from my state's educational system for gifted students.
I received a scholarship from the Brazilian Government to study abroad for one and a half year, when I studied at the Université du Québéc à Montréal in Canada and participated in research groups about educational psychology and community psychology. I also did a summer internship in a public mental-health facility working as a co-therapist.
After graduating from the University I did a specialization course in Psychopedagogy at a Private University the course were very teacher-centered and very technical as we learned mostly about different approaches on evaluation and learning disorders. There were no practical assignments neither an internship. The final project was to write an article about a theme of our choice, so I decided to do literature review on parental support and children's perform in secondary school.
This year, I have decided to get a Master's degree to deepen my knowledge in Educational Sciences and to strengthen the career path I am building.
I remember we had a lot of birthday parties at school and the routine was really important (classes, lunch, nap time and shower before going home). Classes included drawing, playing, dancing,
theater and others. All of the important national dates were celebrated and we prepared presentations for parents in some of them, such as Easter or Christmas.
After Child Education my mother decided I should study to pass an exam to study at a military school during the Final Years of Primary Education and the Secondary Education. She made this decision because the school was known as good and it had really low tuition fees compared to other schools with the same quality. Good quality was measured by the amount of students that went directly from Secondary Education to Public Universities.So, during the Initial Years of the Primary Education, I studied at a private school that prepared children for this exam. I started to have one teacher per subject (Portuguese, Math, History, Geography, Physical Education, Arts and Sciences - foreign languages were not taught at the time) and we would also practice what they called "Civic Hour" a moment when all the students gathered to sing the national anthem. This was also a preparation for the military school. My classes had between 25 and 30 students and were teacher-centered, so we only had to listen, copy and do lots of homework.
Picture of the "Civic Hour"
We had a lot of exams that simulated the entrance exam for the military school and the school always ranked students based on their scores on these exams, so it was a very competitive environment.
This entrance exam was taken at the end of the Initial Years (called 4th year at the time) but unfortunately, I did not pass it at the time. However, I decided to try again, so I continued studying for it at this preparatory school (on the 5th year) in the morning and during the afternoon I did a special course in another private school that prepared students for this exam too.
I was approved at the end of this year (2002) and I joined the military school the next year, doing the 5th grade again. Until today many students do this (5th grade 2 times) to be able to enter the school.
Picture of the Certificate I received for joining the military school
The Final Years of the Primary Education at the military school were really easy for me because I had already studied all the content to take the entrance exam. However, I had to adapt to the new rules that went from basic things such as how to dress the different uniforms, tie my hair or paint my nails (only on bright colors) to more complex things as respect hierarchy without questioning it. We had classes in the afternoon, from 13h until 18h with two 15 min breaks and one 30 min break during this period. There were also new subjects: civic education and a second language we could choose. In my case I chose English.Exams were mainly the same as before, multiple choice or writing questions, always with closed books. They would happen once a month and we did not have group works, most exams were individual assignments.
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| My friend and I using the school's uniform |
In the middle of my last year in Secondary I decided to take the Public University entrance exam and chose Psychology as my major. I was approved and the school gave me permission to finish the Secondary Education early, so I started my undergraduate course in Psychology in 2009.
I studied Psychology for 6 years, during which I participate in many parallel learning and research activities at the University, such as the psychology junior enterprise and research study groups about social psychology, work psychology and educational psychology.This major had three options of certification Psychologist, Bachelor in Psychology and Licensed in Psychology. Most of their curriculum were the same but each had a few specific courses and a specific graduation requirement (internship, final paper or teaching experience). I chose the Psychologist and Bachelor in Psychology path.
We had mainly teacher-centered theoretical classes, but we had more practical activities such as reflective group works, research projects and portfolios as final exams. We had to do three supervised internships (for the Psychologist option) which gave me a sense of the practical skills I needed to work as a psychologist. I did one internship at a clinical facility where I met adolescents and their families, one in a private company where I worked as HR business partner taking care of selection and training processes and another one in a public school where I worked in a special program from my state's educational system for gifted students.
I received a scholarship from the Brazilian Government to study abroad for one and a half year, when I studied at the Université du Québéc à Montréal in Canada and participated in research groups about educational psychology and community psychology. I also did a summer internship in a public mental-health facility working as a co-therapist.
After graduating from the University I did a specialization course in Psychopedagogy at a Private University the course were very teacher-centered and very technical as we learned mostly about different approaches on evaluation and learning disorders. There were no practical assignments neither an internship. The final project was to write an article about a theme of our choice, so I decided to do literature review on parental support and children's perform in secondary school.
This year, I have decided to get a Master's degree to deepen my knowledge in Educational Sciences and to strengthen the career path I am building.
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