Education System of Brazil:Quick OverviewED 569, Student Teaching Abroad

History of Education System in Brazil

•1500’s: Portuguese Colonists/Religion Agenda•1772: Shift – serving state instead of church•1824: Constitution declares primary education

a universal right for all children•1920: First universities established•1964-1980: Military regime, compulsory

education expanded to 8 years•1988: Constitution updated, federal

government must spend 18% of tax revenue on education and states/municipalities must spend at least 25%

Current Structure of Education in Brazil• Compulsory for 9 years, ages 6-14

• Primary School – 5 years• Secondary/Middle School – 4 years• High School – 3 years (can add 1-2 years for career/technical

education)

World Bank Report: Brazil & Comparable Countries•Ranked low on science and math

achievement tests:

Country Math Rank (out of 40 )

Science Rank(out of 40)

Brazil 40th 39th

United States 28th 22nd

Korea 3rd 4th

Poverty & Education

•Basic needs not being met•20 million abandoned “street children” in

Brazil.•Brazil home to one of the most unequal

distributions of wealth in the world

Recent Reforms•Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995-2002)

-Increase enrollments and secondary graduation rates-Teacher education reforms

• Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2010)-Lifted millions out of poverty-”Bolsa Familia” subsidy incentive program-Scholarships for low-income students-Added 180 vocational schools

•Dilma Rousseff (2011 -?)-Tasked with carrying out education reforms for future

Resources• Barrionuevo, Alexei (2010, September 4). Education Gaps Limit Brazil’s Reach.

New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com. • Barrionuevo, Alexei (2010, October 31). In a First, Brazil Elects a Woman as

President. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com. • Haar, J. and Haussman, F. (1978). World Education Series: Education in Brazil.

Hamden, Connecticut: The Shoe String Press Inc.• Kubke, Menga and Moreira, Antonio Flavio Barbosa (1999). Recent proposals

to reform teacher education in Brazil. Teaching and Teacher Education. Volume 15. Pages 169-178.

• Kubow, P.K. and Fossum, P.R. (2007). Comparative Education: Exploring Issues in International Context. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.

• Marcondes, Maria Ines (1999). Teacher Education in Brazil. Journal of Education for Teaching. Volume 25, Issue 3. Pages 1-12.

• Mickelson, R. A. (2000). Children of the Streets of the Americas: Homelessness, Education and Globalization in the United States, Brazil and Cuba. New York, New York: Routledge.

• Plank, D. N. (1996). The Means of Our Salvation: Public Education in Brazil, 1930-1995. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, Inc.

• Rodriguez, A., with Dahlman, C. and Salmi, J. (2008). Knowledge and Innovation for Competitiveness in Brazil. Washington D.C.: The World Bank