Certainly, many of the challenges you’ve overcome throughout your career are common to many educators. What were the biggest ones, and how did you overcome them?

Prof. Débora Garofalo: Every teacher faces many challenges in their career. Whether due to their training—which in many cases still needs improvement—or the lack of professional development, especially in these new times, which bring to the forefront issues such as technology, active learning methodologies, and new approaches in the classroom (such as STEM/STEAM approaches, which are inquiry-based and span various fields of knowledge). But I think the greatest difficulty, really, is addressing the existing social problems that greatly affect education. That was part of what I had to deal with to bring the robotics project using scrap materials to the students—a project that arose from a problem. A real problem—the issue of trash. Trash that prevented these children from going to school on rainy days and that spread diseases such as dengue and leptospirosis. Faced with all this, the challenge was really to show that they could take the lead in overcoming this difficulty and, above all, to bring about something truly meaningful. That they could be part of this new era and bring a sense of youth leadership to the project so that these students could then act as information multipliers for the entire community and truly transform their community through knowledge and education. I think that was undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges. Another, of course, was dealing with our own colleagues who didn’t believe in the project or who, even when they did, saw that it involved a lot of work—having to go out into the streets, collect materials… so we also had to shift the teachers’ mindset to show them that they could engage the local community. And finally, the very process of engagement itself. We still face significant challenges in education when it comes to involving the local community in initiatives that truly belong to them. And this only became possible when the residents of that community themselves began to feel the improvement—with the reduction in flooding and trash on the streets. That’s when they truly began to understand the educational work that was being done. These were some of the challenges I faced, but I think the greatest challenge we’re facing today in education, without a doubt, is truly understanding that it can be innovative, that it can be transformative, and that the student is at the center of the process—the protagonist. That’s why we need to break away from old paradigms and bring innovation into the classroom.

  

The pandemic has posed no small number of challenges to education. Much has been accomplished with the help of technology, but what about the role of the teacher? How do you assess and define the role of the transformative teacher in this new educational context?

Prof. Débora Garofalo: I’ll start by saying that we need to have high expectations for our students, but that it’s also essential to have high expectations for our teachers—especially in the face of a situation that no one anticipated or planned for, and that, perhaps, if we had been asked some time ago whether it would be possible, for example, to conduct technology-mediated classes, we would have said it was impossible or very difficult. But teachers—even in the face of so many challenges, especially those who truly struggled with technology—reinvented themselves so that education wouldn’t come to a halt right there on the school floor. And it was truly wonderful to witness and hear our colleagues’ accounts of how they overcame these challenges to be there, facilitating this learning process and actively engaging with students to try to minimize the pandemic’s impact on education. Since then, we’ve learned a great deal. We’ve learned the importance and role of technology—not as an end in itself, but as a means, as a driving force behind the learning process—and that it must be accompanied by differentiated methodologies and approaches, such as active methodologies designed to move students away from passivity and place them at the center of the learning process. We are moving toward a new era, one in which it is possible to demonstrate that innovation can be achieved using existing technologies and that analog technologies also work. The key is to prioritize the humanization of these technologies, especially when we talk about Education 5.0, which aims to develop social-emotional skills and integrate technology in a more human-centered way. May this new era also be deeply rooted in a holistic approach to education.

 

"Transformation" is perhaps one of the most relevant words in the current context of our country. In your view, what are some possible and desirable transformations that teachers can help promote through their practices?

Prof. Débora Garofalo: As I said, we need to have high expectations for our students and teachers. Our teachers are the ones who have, in fact, transformed education—they are the ones on the front lines of education. It is through their practices (and I say this from personal experience, as I once led a project that was recognized nationally and internationally and has since become public policy) that they can shape and guide the direction of our education system. So, without a doubt, teachers need to be involved in public debates and public policy, but looking at what teachers have been doing in the classroom also helps us channel and transform the best practices they’re already using into pathways toward a true transformation of our education system.

 

Who is the “Transformative Teacher” who makes it possible to link education to a desirable present and future?

Prof. Débora Garofalo: A transformative teacher is one who has the ability to facilitate the transfer of knowledge—to bridge the gap between the student and that knowledge—while constantly seeking new ways to innovate. They are the ones who pave the way for students to take on that leading role. And without a doubt, the transformative teacher is the one who guides education and makes it happen on the ground. They are a fundamental piece of the puzzle who certainly needs to be valued and recognized, but who, above all, plays an essential role in the entire machinery of education—that of transforming lives.

 

And what about school? What kind of school can make it possible to link education to a desirable present and future?

Prof. Débora Garofalo: Education—and schools, in particular—have changed their roles. For a long time, schools played a very passive role, limited to working only within their walls with those students, with the teacher serving as the transmitter of knowledge. Today, schools play a fundamental role—especially as we saw during the pandemic—as they are not just places of learning. They serve as a real safety net for children and youth. They are the spaces where students learn to engage with the world and explore new possibilities. So, it has also been reinventing itself over time. It has moved from that traditional school we used to see—with chairs and desks lined up in rows—to this new concept that places a strong emphasis on collaboration, empathy, and problem-solving. So, while schools today are active, they still need to break away from certain paradigms—most importantly, understanding that a school is not an island. It needs to open up, bringing in new voices to be present there, engaging in dialogue as part of its daily routine—such as inviting government agencies, for example, to come and converse within the school community.

 

What message would you like to share with the teachers who overcome daily challenges to bring about transformative education?

Prof. Débora Garofalo: The message I leave for my colleagues is that they should be resilient and persistent. The shift toward Transformative Education doesn’t happen overnight—it’s a cultural change. And like any cultural change, it goes through phases. That’s why we need to persevere and have the resilience to truly support our students through this transformation. May our students be not just consumers of technology, but producers as well. And for them to fulfill this role, they need to take the lead. That’s where teachers play an essential role: mediating and guiding this learning process.

 

In closing, we would like you to invite educators from all over Brazil to participate in the second edition of the Transformative Teacher Award:

Prof. Débora Garofalo: An award is always a celebration of a long process, of a teacher’s long journey, and, without a doubt, also a recognition of their work. So, I’d like to invite teachers to apply for the 2021 Transformative Teacher Award, so that we can learn a little from their teaching practices and be inspired by them. Because teachers are great transformers of society. Through this recognition—through the recognition that an award provides—we can learn from these teachers and also spread their teaching practices to every classroom in our country.

 

 

Let’s work together to transform Brazilian education by giving a voice and a platform to transformative teachers. Sign up for the 2nd edition of the Transformative Teacher Award athttps://significare.org.br/premio/

 

 

Getting to Know Professor Débora Garofalo Better

With a bachelor’s degree in Language and Literature and Education and a specialization in the Portuguese language from Unicamp, Débora Garofalo also holds a master’s degree in Linguistics from PUC-SP and is a FabLearn Fellow at Columbia University in the U.S. She has been teaching in the São Paulo public school system for 16 years. She currently serves as Coordinator of the Center for Innovation in Basic Education at the São Paulo State Department of Education (SEDUC-SP), implementing a three-pronged approach to innovation through initiatives such as the Inova Educação Program, the Inova Movement, and the Center for Innovation, with a focus on democratizing access to technology and innovation. She has been a columnist for major media outlets and is currently a columnist for Editora Moderna, through which she is about to release a new book. She is also a columnist for Revista Educação, a member of the São Paulo City Human Rights Commission, and a Teacher Ambassador for the Ayrton Senna Institute. She is a speaker at major national and international events and the recipient of various awards in the field of education, including Professores do Brasil 2018 and the MIT Creative Learning Challenge 2019. She is also recognized as one of the 10 best teachers in the world by the 2019 Global Teacher Prize, considered the Nobel Prize of Education. Professor Débora is an ambassador for the Transformative Teacher Award and inspires her entire network of transformative teachers.

 

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