The Bett Brasil Warm-Up was a success. Moderated by Bett Brasil’s Director of Content, Adriana Martinelli, the event featured special guests who shared some “spoilers” about the content to be presented at the Bett Brasil Congress—which is returning to an in-person format—as well as insights into the experiences of the Brazilian delegation that attended the Bett Show in London. The entire event was streamed live on Bett Brasil’s online platform and is now available on-demand at Bettonline.com.br for those who couldn’t attend or who would like to watch it again .

The Warm-Up kicked off with a conversation between Adriana and Claudia Valério, the general director of Bett Brasil. For Claudia, the novel coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the education sector’s transition toward the future—a perspective that was reinforced during the Bett Show UK. “The discussions that took place in London are very similar to what we’re addressing in Brazil and what we’ll be bringing to our event in May. I believe we’ve achieved a balance in recent years when it comes to the challenges facing education, ”she said.

For Adriana, Bett Brasil itself is moving in this direction of capitalizing on everything it has learned over the past two years, including the adoption of the hybrid model. “Just as our preview event gave us a sneak peek at some new developments, the online platform—which has expanded even further due to the pandemic—will serve as a space to continue our dialogue 365 days a year,” noted the Director of Content at Bett Brasil.

Next, Luciana Allan, director of Instituto Crescer, commented that the past two years have been an important time for reflection and learning about new dynamics that must continue, because the world is no longer the same. Regarding her participation in the Congress, Allan emphasized that she intends to bring the perspective of an educational administrator and highlight the factors that contribute to an innovative mindset. “The management of educational institutions depends on people. Therefore, to promote innovation and disruption, we must engage in dialogue with everyone—teachers, parents, the community, and state education departments—who are involved in the education ecosystem,” said Luciana.

Rafael Ávila, Director of Education at Mlearn and a teacher at Flow School, discussed the professional journey he has taken over the past two years, transitioning from in-person classes to the online model. “I learned a new approach to teaching while conducting online classes. I had to develop new strategies to build connections with students, which is essential to the educational process,” he said. He noted that the online environment allowed him to interact with students from other states and, as a result, he recognized an untapped potential for diversity and pluralism.

Ávila also pointed out that the topic he will present at the conference will be meditation as a way to achieve emotional balance—a practice he has even managed to incorporate into his online classes. “Mindfulness is the second generation of soft skills. Today I use ancient tools—yoga and meditation—to promote inner transformation. Therefore, I want to show how these practices, when fully integrated into school curricula, can enhance the educational process,” the professor summarized.

Another guest at the Bett Brasil Warm-Up was Marta Gil, general executive coordinator of the Amankay Institute for Studies and Research, who will address inclusive education and diversity at the conference. She noted that the current moment is ripe for considering new initiatives from an inclusive perspective. “No one is coming out of this—after nearly two years of the coronavirus pandemic—the same way they went in, ” she emphasized. Marta explained that, as a society, we are beginning to value diversity and inclusion, and that this transformation is achieved as we learn to see and understand what is different. “We are increasingly realizing that human beings cannot be reduced to a single label, because we are multifaceted,” she emphasized. 

Brazilian Delegation at the Bett Show in London

The “preview” for the 27th edition of Bett Brasil also brought together four representatives from the delegation that attended the Bett Show in London (England) in March to discuss their experiences at the event. The Brazilian delegation—which included educators, experts, leaders, and businesspeople from the education sector, as well as education administrators and secretaries of education—conducted technical visits to British educational institutions and participated in the event’s main content sessions.

Fabia Antunes, the academic director of Lourenço Castanho School, spoke about the opportunity the trip provided to visit the research centers at two British universities, King’s College and The Open University. She emphasized that one of the aspects that caught her attention—and that needs to be developed in Brazil—is the application of research using open solutions.“The production of open and shared content is one of the legacies that basic education must leave for the students who pass through our schools,” she said.

For Reeducation CEO Michel Godoi, the event provided an opportunity to make many connections and gain further insight into the challenges facing education in the future. He noted that we need a fresh perspective on available technology to advance the use of data and information. “Institutions generate large volumes of data, but very little of it is analyzed. The next step is to understand what to do with it and apply it directly to each student’s individual learning process, ” said Godoi.

From the perspective of public schools, Márcia Bernardes, president of Undime São Paulo, said that during the event she observed that teaching strategies were discussed that do not require resources and have long been used by teachers in Brazil—such as the use of small individual whiteboards that students can use during activities to present their answers simultaneously. In her view, this highlights the importance of focusing more public policies on teacher training.

Simone Telles, the academic director of the Virtual University of the State of São Paulo (Univesp), emphasized that, in educational terms, Brazil is on the “same page” as what was discussed at the event in London. She highlighted the meetings with educational sectors as one of the event’s highlights, as these provided opportunities for more focused discussions on the challenges and difficulties she faces in relation to distance learning. “The Bett Show was a great source of inspiration for outlining plans and scenarios for public policies in distance higher education for 2023,” she concluded.