The country’s educational community seems to have gathered in one place: at Bett Brasil, Latin America’s most important education and technology event, which drew more than 20,000 visitors over its three-day run. The event, which returned to an in-person format this year, brings together educators, administrators, parents, students, and companies to foster dialogue about the future of the sector in the country.

Bett Brasil features leading figures from the education sector in its content program (the Bett Brasil Congress and the Administrators’ Forum) and more than 270 exhibiting brands that bring innovations to private and public school systems.

"This year’s theme for Bett Brasil— Co-Creating the Future of Education —couldn’t be more fitting for the 2022 edition of the event. Given the massive turnout over these three days, it’s clear that everyone involved in the education sector is committed to the goal of improving the quality and efficiency of education in Brazil,” said Adriana Martinelli, content director at Bett Brasil.

2022 Sebrae Entrepreneurial Education Award

The 2022 Sebrae Entrepreneurial Education Award ceremony took place today (May 12) at Bett Brasil. The initiative recognizes the work of elementary, high school, college, and technical school teachers across the country who have implemented creative and innovative practices to develop entrepreneurial skills in their students.

As national finalists, the ten teachers in each category received a full scholarship for the online MBA in Entrepreneurial Education 5.0 (360 hours). The national winners (first-place finishers in each category; see the list below) will participate in a technical mission funded by Sebrae.

Check out the award winners on Porvir, a content platform focused on innovations in education, which is responsible for drafting the guidelines and instructions for the awards.

Emotion Management

On Thursday (May 12), the Bett Brasil Conference welcomed Brazilian psychiatrist, professor, and writer Augusto Cury to join the lineup of inspirational talks. Under the theme “Emotional Management for Training Brilliant Teachers,” Cury addressed the need for a more humanistic approach in the classroom and in social relationships. “Teachers must change their approach; don’t point out mistakes—celebrate successes. Adopt a humanistic attitude, and share your experiences and challenges with your students. First, you love the teacher; then, you love the subject,” he emphasized.

The speaker asks whether we are training true thinkers or merely information consumers, since the old model of absolute silence in the classroom no longer fits this generation, which is known for living amid an excess of information. “Today we have a society that is averse to boredom. Brazilians spend an average of 10 hours a day online and consume a great deal of information. If we keep fighting against this in the classroom, we’ll burn ourselves out—we need to adapt.”

Augusto Cury is known for developing the Theory of Multifocal Intelligence. The method seeks to strengthen critical awareness in order to enhance our ability to reflect on the unconscious processes we experience. In this way, it is possible to avoid emotional distress caused by single-focused beliefs; in other words, it is important to view events from more than one perspective. He states that one in every two people has or will develop mental disorders, in addition to the sharp rise in the suicide rate among children and young people. “Social media is a snapshot of life, where everything seems beautiful and perfect, but it isn’t. We need to understand that life is a contract of risk, and you cannot give in to pain or end relationships. Emotional management is essential.”

Education Model in Jeopardy

The educational model was the focus of discussion during the panel “Innovation Strategies and the Future of Education,” led by educators, experts, and brothers Luciano and Silvio Meira. In addition to their family ties, the two share an emphatic conviction that the current educational model is doomed to fail.

In his opening remarks, Luciano described educators as time travelers. “We are people capable of imagining plausible stories of the future, creating the conditions for those stories to come true. Remember: Educators are constantly betting on the future. And our mission is to create the conditions and ideation processes to bring these stories of the future to life, starting from the realities of the present. We must be capable of vision, ideation, and action,” he remarked.

In Luciano’s view, the social arrangements that place social life at the center of information need to be better organized. “The social arrangement based on the content+discipline+certification model does not work. We need to create conditions and methodologies based on the experiential immersion of our participants (educators and students), centered on a combination of experiences, autonomy, collaboration, complex problem-solving, and decision-making, with a focus on competency-based assessment. We need to move forward with a restructuring based on a new social framework, rather than on the bureaucratization of learning,” he stated.

He concluded his remarks by quoting John Dewey: “Give students something to do, not something to learn; the nature of the task will require thought; learning is a result of that process.” “I believe that the focus of education is not the student, but rather the emotional and intellectual relationship between educators and students.”

The second part of the panel was presented by Silvio Meira. “After 70 years of the digital revolution, how can we explain that the educational system still hasn’t changed? I’ve come to the conclusion that education as it stands today is the bureaucracy of learning.”

According to Silvio, to break free from bureaucracy and achieve tangible improvements in learning quality, the educational model must undergo three major shifts. “We must move from degrees to skills—that is, replace training mechanisms with environments that foster opportunities for creativity, problem-solving, and hands-on experiences. Another shift is moving from the physical to the phygital (the convergence of the physical, digital, and social). And the final transition is in the business model, which must undergo universalization, marking a shift from high-cost to low-cost in the business model,” he concluded.

LED Movement

The LED Movement—Light in Education, an initiative of Globo and the Roberto Marinho Foundation, participated in Bett Brasil alongside education professionals to discuss technologies as learning tools for the future.

Alexsandro Santos, who holds a Ph.D. in Education from the University of São Paulo, commented on the accelerated digitization of education that occurred as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. “I believe there was a lack of a systemic vision regarding what was needed for schools to better navigate this new reality of contemporary life. We did not organize schools to adapt to this at the right time.” He notes that the acceleration did occur, but it was carried out in a rush, with certain precautions overlooked—such as preparing teachers to use technological tools and addressing inequalities in student access.

Mastertech CEO Camila Achutti, who also participated in the lecture, agreed with this assessment. She added that despite this lack of preparation due to the urgency of the situation, the pandemic created a window of opportunity for teachers who were unaware of their own capabilities or who were not initially interested to demonstrate new skills in facilitating classes using digital technologies. “I am optimistic that this newly discovered skill will be sustained and will continue to develop in the post-pandemic era,” said Camila.    

Architect and urban planner Edgard Gouveia, who holds a postgraduate degree in Cooperative Games, took the opportunity to speak about gamification in education. “Emotion and play are two tools that offer people a very powerful source of energy,” said Gouveia. He spoke about how games can engage children and young people in schools and cited as an example a scavenger hunt held at a school in São Paulo, in which students earned points for bringing back classmates who had dropped out. “When the game began, the school had 240 students; by the end, there were more than 1,160. A simple scavenger hunt can bring light back to schools,” commented Gouveia.

Visitation

The aisles at Bett Brasil are filled with teachers, educators, education administrators, and professionals from various other fields related to learning. Educator Maria José has been visiting the fair since its inception and says she is always pleasantly surprised by the innovations on display. “I love visiting to learn about new solutions for education. The fair always adds so much to our knowledge—it’s spectacular.”

Thainá Pires, an education consultant, attended Bett for the first time this year. She says the fair exceeded her expectations. “Here, you can get a very broad overview of what’s new and how to address certain issues. I’d like to highlight the event’s focus on the mental health of teachers and children—a very important topic that deserves even more discussion in the post-pandemic era.”

Bett Brasil continues through tomorrow, Friday, May 13, at the Transamérica Expo Center in São Paulo.

Event: Bett Brasil 2022

Date: May 10–13, 2022.

Hours: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Location/Address: Transamerica Expo Center (Av. Dr. Mário Vilas Boas Rodrigues, 387 - Santo Amaro - São Paulo, SP).

Official Website: https://brasil.bettshow.com/home

About Bett Brasil

Bett Brasil is the largest education and technology event in Latin America. It is part of the global Bett Show series organized by the Hyve Group, one of the world’s leading organizers of events considered industry benchmarks. Bett aims to inspire and discuss the future of the sector and the role of technology and innovation in the education of educators and students.

About Hyve Group

The Hyve Group was founded in 1991 and is now one of the world’s leading organizers of international trade shows, conferences, and events. The Hyve Group’s primary strategic vision is to build a global portfolio of events grounded in high-quality content, delivering an excellent experience and ROI (return on investment) to its clients. Hyve strives to deliver the best services to clients worldwide, regardless of location. It places exhibitors and visitors at the center of its efforts and drives sustainable growth for its investors. Hyve Group is a publicly traded company that has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 1998.

Press Information:

Communication Collective

Valeria Bursztein

+55 11 9 9104-2031

valeria@coletivodacomunicacao.com.br

Arucha Fernandes

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arucha@coletivodacomunicacao.com.br

Berlitz Communication

Ricardo Berlitz

+55 11 9 9645-2067

berlitz@berlitzcomunicacao.com.br