This document summarizes Daniel Ferraz's upcoming presentation to the Language and Literacy Research Group. It will discuss the Brazilian educational system, focusing on tensions between public and private education, federal and state curricula, and traditional vs. critical literacies. It will then focus on foreign language education and a National Project working with universities to address these challenges through critical teacher education approaches. Key topics covered include demographics, educational levels, critiques of reproductivism in higher education, and the goals of developing more dialogic and critical pedagogies.

1. Daniel Ferraz
Dept of Modern Languages
-University of Sao Paulo
FATEC – FACULDADE DE
TECNOLOGIA DE SÃO PAULO

2. ABSTRACT
 In my short presentation to the Language and
Literacy Research Group, I will discuss
 some general information about Brazilian educational
systems.
 Based on Leite (2010) and on MEC – Ministério da
Educação e Cultura, I will problemitize some of the
challenges we have faced in relation to the tensions
between
 public and private education,
 Federal and State curricular orientations, traditional
and critical literacies

3.  I will then focus on foreign languages education and
will present how English departments from some
universities in the country have responded to these
challenges through a National Project of foreign
language teacher education.
 Key words: Brazilian education, critical education,
foreign languages teaching

4. INTRODUCTION:
 Brazil

5.  Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world
 5 regions
 Tropical climate
 Fauna and flora
 Huge urban areas

6. Jungles

11. Demographics
 Colour/Race (2008)
 White 49,4% (? – census is done through questions in Brazil)
 Brown (Multiracial) 43.80%
 Black 6.84%
 Yellow 0.58%
 Amerindian 0.28%
- The population of Brazil, as recorded by the 2008
PNAD, was approximately 190 million, Southeast,
urban, young.

13. Sao Paulo: economic centre,
megalopolis
 São Paulo: 10,990,249 inhabitants
 Greater Sao Paulo: 19.889.559 inhabitants

15. Illiteracy...

17. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
 LEVELS

18. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM –
Sistema BÁSICO
 EDUCAÇÃO BÁSICA
 PUBLIC X PRIVATE

19. portal.inep.gov.br
BASIC EDUCATION
MEDIUM LEVEL: 8,9 million students:
PUBLIC X PRIVATE
88% 12 %
7,8 million students 1 million

20. General Characteristics
 More students in PUBLIC education:
 More dropout % = 30%
 Usually considered of LOW quality
 Fewer students in PRIVATE sector
 Less dropout
 Usually considered of HIGH quality:

21.  WHAT IS HAPPENING IN PUBLIC
BASIC EDUCATION?

22. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM –
SISTEMA SUPERIOR DE ENSINO
 EDUCAÇÃO superior


23. Higher education
www.inep.gov.br
 2,252 institutions
( 2,016 –private X 236 – public)
 340,000 professors
230,000 private; X 110,000-public (70,000 are PhD)
 5 million students ( 2,5 % of population)
 800,000 conclude

24. General Characteristics
 fewer students in PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES:
 Usually considered of HIGH quality, research
institutions
 MORE students in PRIVATE sector
 Usually considered of LOW quality, not focused on
research


25. CRITIQUE: Educational paradox

PUBLIC BASIC EDUCATION: PRIVATE BASIC EDUCATION:
Most students (88%) Fewer students (12%)
“inferior” quality Excellent quality
PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES: PUBLIC UNIVESITIES:
Most students Fewer students
Inferior quality Excellent quality
Corporate, business Academia, research

26. Challenge: Educational cycle
 The fact that many of these university students lack
these critical practices but become teachers in
elementary and secondary schools indicates the
gravity of this situation and how its negative aspects
may be multiplied and reinforced in the school
system (Monte Mor 2007: 49).

27. OTHER BIG ISSUES
 REPRODUCTIVISM (Bourdieu)
 MEMORIZE = LEARN
 BANKING EDUCATION
 EPISTEMOLOGY

28. Humanities Paradox
 EPISTEMOLOGIES
 Alan Liu – The map of human knowledge

29. HE in Brazil: great challenge
 Conventional / tradicional = grounded on Illuminism,
positivism
 REPRODUCTIVISM, REPETITION, LINEAR thinking,
 Pedagogy = authoritarian in many instances,

30. Pedagogy = FREIRE´S BANKING
CONCEPT of education. Students
as mugs, teachers as jugs
Jug
and
mug...

31. Novos letramentos

32. HE in Brazil: move to … or add…
 Contemporary epistemologies: dialogism, digital/
multi epistemologies = grounded on post-movements
 PRODUCTION, CREATION, NET thinking,
 Pedagogy = negotiation,
 Pedagogy = critical pedagogy, critical literacies, new
literacies

33. Leite (2010)
 Anthropofagic HIGHER EDUCATION = at structural
level
 Reproductivist HIGHER EDUCATION = at
epistemological level

34. Possible answers?

35. NATIONAL PROJECT of Foreign
Languages Teacher Education
 Project initially designed by Lynn Mario Menezes T de
Souza and Walkyria Monte Mór (USP) who designes
the latest National Curricular Orientations for
Medium level Foreign languages Education ( OCEM
2006)
 26 Universities around the country ( show LIST)

36.  English departments (some professors of those
departments)
 Portuguese Departments (2 universitites)
 Who participate: undergrads, graduate students
(Master´s and PhDs), professors, teachers of foreign
languages (English and Spanish) and Portuguese
language areas.

37. Actions
 Yearly encounters where we discuss the project and
construct it together. In these encounters, there are
round-tables for theoretical studies on new literacies,
multiliteracies and critical literacies, and also round
tables for discussion of the research from each
locality.
 Research in public schools (basic education). Each
university develops projects on teacher education and
basic education though English courses.

38.  Supervisions: professors supervise dissertations and
theses connected to the issues proposed by the
Project: in the area of critical education (
 Publications – Publications of articles and books
related to the researches of the Project.

39.  International partnership – TRANSNATIONAL
LITERACIES PROJECT- exchange between scholars
who have developed similar projects. They are invited
to join our discussions every year ( Partner
institutions – University of Manitoba – Dr Diana
Brydon, Univ of York Brian Morgan and Dr Ian
Martin, University of |Toronto Dr Monica Heller,
among many others)

40. To close...
 In order to fully embrace a humanizing pedagogy, we
must go beyond the technicism in classroom
instruction and engage other fundamental
knowledges that are seldom taught to us in our
preparation as teachers. These knowledges include,
according to Freire: the courage to dare, in the full
sense of the term, to speak abou tlove without fear of
being called a-scientific or anti-scientific. (MACEDO

41.  THANK YOU!