Some people who read the previous article offered valuable suggestions for future posts. The first suggestion was to highlight some examples of innovation in public education in Brazil, since it accounts for 80% of the education system in our country (and it’s more or less the same outside Brazil as well). So, I looked into a few examples and had the opportunity to talk to some people about what they’ve been doing throughout this vast country of Brazil.

In Rio de Janeiro, for example, Ciça Melo’s Instituto Apontar contributes to the cognitive and socio-emotional development of gifted children and adolescents from low-income families. The impact is impressive: in 2023 alone, the institute served more than 600 students from over 100 schools, benefiting more than 1,800 family members, and the results are also evident in college entrance exam results: 86% of the students were admitted to public universities.

They do this through two programs: Arcos and A+. In the Arcos program, 4th- and 5th-grade students take after-school classes in Portuguese, math, and writing to help them gain admission to top-tier public and private schools. Once admitted—in partnership with the private sector—Apontar continues to support students and their families, in addition to covering the costs of transportation, uniforms, school supplies, and field trips.

Through the A+ Program, middle school students in grades 6 through 9 at municipal schools in Rio de Janeiro receive additional instruction and enrichment in Portuguese, math, English, and technology. They also develop life and discovery projects so that, in the second phase of the program, they can go on to attend top-tier private or public schools.

I also learned from Thais Pianucci of Alura about Alura Start, which already serves 3 million students in 7,000 schools in Paraná, São Paulo, and the city of Chapecó, providing education in technology, programming, and digital literacy to elementary and middle school students.

See also:

• When Education Meets Innovation
• Vocational Education: Positive Experiences in the States of São Paulo and Paraná 
• Innovation ecosystem for public education was a highlight at Bett Brasil

It all began in 2020, in the state of Paraná, with an extracurricular course, expanding to full-time education and then to high school in the following years. The program has always been aligned with the National Common Core Curriculum (BNCC), of course, and also addresses topics such as cyberbullying, copyright, and critical thinking, among others, which are woven throughout the curriculum.

Another significant impact is on the 26,000 teachers who are receiving training to work with video formats—which are not as common as books—and which are used on this platform to deliver this content to students. Alura Start is currently preparing content to introduce the first concepts of computational thinking to students in the early grades.

I was also warmly welcomed by Kaic Rannys from Edufuturo, a technology group focused on education. He shared some interesting stories with me, particularly about the success story they are building in various municipalities across Brazil, serving more than 100,000 students nationwide.

Taking a different approach, Edufuturo also provides teachers for the school districts it serves. These teachers are trained in advance to deliver content through a flipped classroom model based on five areas of knowledge, using a gamified platform, so that students can develop projects in a format more closely resembling the workplace.

One of the success stories is in the interior of São Paulo, in Araçoiaba da Serra, where they have already set up five “classrooms of the future” to serve middle school students, offering courses in robotics, programming, entrepreneurship, and business.

But there’s so much more going on out there… and considering that innovation doesn’t have to be groundbreaking—it can simply be about improving a process, product, or service—I was reminded of EEMTI Joaquim Bastos Gonçalves, a public high school in Carnaubal, Ceará, which won the 2023 World’s Best School Prizes with its “Adopt a Student” project.

Simple and effective. They didn’t need a sophisticated platform or many assumptions. Teachers reached out to psychologists from across the country via social media so they could provide voluntary, online support to students who were struggling mentally and emotionally as they returned to in-person classes after the pandemic. You can also watch a video about the project, if you prefer: EEMTI Joaquim Bastos Gonçalves, Brazil | Supporting Healthy Lives 2023.

But there's so much more going on out there…

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