The 2026 Basic Education Yearbook Highlights Challenges in Teacher Training and in the Learning of Mathematics and Portuguese
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Teacher training, learning outcomes, and the expansion of Professional and Technological Education (PTE) are among the main highlights of the 2026 Basic Education Yearbook. Now in its 13th edition, the publication compiles indicators and historical data on Basic Education in Brazil, featuring data from all 26 states and the Federal District.
Among the data presented, the profile of students entering teacher-training programs stands out: among those admitted to teacher-training programs based on scores from the National High School Exam (Enem), only 14.7% of the students admitted in 2024 were among the top 20% of performers on the previous year’s exam.
The percentage is lower than that observed in other undergraduate programs. In the Law program, 32.6% of incoming students had the highest grade point averages, while in the Medicine program, that figure was 81.2%.
The data also highlight challenges in the initial training of future teachers. In 2025, only 20.2% of graduates from the evaluated teacher-training programs achieved the required level on the National Student Performance Exam (Enade). At the same time, 42.2% scored below the basic level.
The situation is even more concerning among students in distance learning programs: 53.1% scored below the basic level, compared with 26.1% in in-person programs.
“The data presented in the Yearbook show that Brazil has not yet managed to establish the characteristics that define the world’s best educational systems: teacher policies capable of attracting high-achieving students to the profession, providing initial training that effectively prepares them for teaching, and ensuring compensation and career paths capable of developing, valuing, and retaining good teachers over time,” explains Gabriel Corrêa, director of Public Policy at Todos Pela Educação .
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Learning Remains a Challenge
The 2026 Yearbook also includes the results of the 2025 Basic Education Assessment System (SAEB), released by INEP in August. The indicators show differences in students’ learning levels across the various stages of basic education.
In the early years of elementary school, 11% of 5th-grade students in public schools were below the basic proficiency level in Portuguese. In mathematics, the percentage reached 16.9%.
In the Final Years, the results paint a more challenging picture in mathematics. Only 18.8% of 9th-grade students in the public school system demonstrated adequate learning in the subject. In Portuguese language, the percentage was 38.3%.
In high school, 8.5% of students in the public school system demonstrated adequate learning in mathematics in 2025. In Portuguese language, the rate was 35.2%.
The results make it possible to track student learning at different stages and in different subject areas, and they also provide a set of indicators on Brazilian basic education.
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Enrollment in vocational education has more than doubled in ten years
Another highlight of the publication is the expansion of secondary-level vocational and technical education. According to data compiled in the Yearbook, the number of enrollments rose from 764,000 in 2015 to 1.58 million in 2025.
This growth is more than double the volume recorded ten years earlier. Between 2024 and 2025 alone, 244,000 new enrollments were added, the largest increase recorded during the period in question.
Among upper-secondary EPT programs, the fields of Management and Business and Information and Communication account for a significant portion of enrollment. In 2025, the former had 499,000 students, while the latter had 362,000. Together, these two fields accounted for more than half of all upper-secondary EPT enrollment in the country.
By compiling historical data series and indicators on various aspects of Basic Education, the 2026 Basic Education Yearbook provides an overview of access, learning, teacher training, and vocational education across different regions and educational levels in the country.
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