Carolina Pavanelli, Head of Pedagogy for the Eleva and Ético Educational Systems, was a speaker on the panel “Innovation and Technology: 3 Steps Toward the Future of Education,” where she emphasized that education and technology must go hand in hand to maximize the teaching and learning process. At theBett BrasilConference, the educator delivered a presentation that addressed gamification, digital transformation, and pedagogical intentionality.

According to the expert, there are three key areas to focus on in order to bring the future into education today:

1) Innovation does not necessarily mean creating something new, but rather improving what already exists;
2) We must educate the younger generations on the responsible use of digital resources;
3) Any and all use of technology in the classroom must have a pedagogical purpose.

According to Carolina Pavanelli, we are currently experiencing a time not only of transformation but also of adaptation. One example illustrating this point was her perspective on textbooks. In her opinion, textbooks are a very important pedagogical resource for teachers and for education. Although she believes that digital textbooks will eventually replace physical ones, offering new ideas and resources to engage students, Carolina Pavanelli does not believe this will happen in the short or medium term.

“But textbooks need to adapt to the new reality. They should include a QR code that links to a video for students to watch, a clip from a research project, a group activity, or a PBL project so students can get more hands-on experience,” said the educator, who also emphasized that it is even more important for schools to invest in teacher training than to invest in the technologies those teachers will be using.

“The parent won’t believe you just because you’re saying it, but if you show data from the platforms—pull up a report showing that their child watched X history video lessons and got such-and-such a score on the test, and watched two English video lessons and got a lower score— Data is the best way to convince parents and guardians to accept this entire transformation in education,” said Carolina Pavanelli, who recommended reading the book *How to Use Data in Education* by Andréa Filatro to help better understand this data-driven approach in the sector.

Assessing social-emotional skills remains a question mark for many educators

With the implementation of the National Common Core Curriculum (BNCC), a recurring concern among educators has become how to address the soft skills developed in school. Not only that, but also how to address one of the main challenges that arose along with it: figuring out how to assess a student’s empathy in the same way we evaluate their understanding of a mathematical theory, for example. Because social-emotional learning cannot be measured by a simple test.

To address this question, the panel “The General Competencies of the BNCC: How to Plan and Assess?” brought together experts Helena Singer, vice president of Ashoka Latin America, and Beatriz Ferraz, executive director of the School of Educators. According to the educators, the key to successfully implementing the BNCC and assessing the proposed competencies is pedagogical intentionality. However, for some educators, the BNCC remains at odds with the national assessment system, in which students are evaluated based on memorized content without considering individual differences—and the ENEM, in this case, is cited as one of the prime examples.

“The BNCC is a document that contradicts itself. All current assessments prioritize a content-based approach that encourages competition rather than collaboration, and promotes a wholly individualistic path rather than the path of the common good. This is completely contrary to what the BNCC encourages. There has been a whole debate about what teachers can change in their practices and what schools can do differently. But we still don’t know how to break free from these ‘straightjackets,’ because the only quality indicator we have in education—the Ideb—is based on these tests,” stated Helena Singer.

Another contradiction pointed out by educators is the difficulty of addressing emotional aspects given the many goals stipulated by the BNCC. According to Beatriz Ferraz, the framework, as a document, sets forth principles that have not yet been translated into conditions for pedagogical practice. “In my view, the National Common Core Standards represented a very important step for the country, helping to establish common references for thinking about the quality of public education, but the process was very disjointed, rushed, and needed continuity in its implementation, because the National Common Core Standards are not a curriculum,” the educator emphasized.