Evolution of Secondary Education in Brazil

The topic of this chapter draws on several questions and discussions that are relevant to cur-riculum studies. Secondary school is the segment of the Brazilian educational system located at the end of basic education, before higher education. Before secondary school, there is the initial part, nowadays called elementary school, subdivided between elementary I and II. The evolution of secondary school, throughout the country’s History, reflects different demands of society at different times. Nowadays, it faces the challenge of offering young people, when com-pleting basic education, preparation for higher education or for a paying job. The multiple poli-cies that have been devised emanate from dominant trends and tensions in various eras. Those policies and influences have resulted in transformations that include strong repercussions on the curriculum and special demands on the education and work of the teachers.

PART 2 CURRICULUM POLICIES Occupying a strategic position for the socio-economic development of the country, secondary education has been studied by researchers who seek to clarify long-standing problems, including its own identity, that is, what objectives it is actually addressing (Frigotto & Ciavatta, 2011). It is also very much targeted by policies and legislation, which seek to meet popular demands with political proposals about it. As an example, we recall the decision of the state government of São Paulo, in the 1960s, to have a secondary school in each city of that state. This was intended to meet the insistent demand of the mayors because secondary schools were seen as the possibility of social ascension for young people. Satisfying this demand, however, required a crucial decision in the state budget allocation, sacrificing the portion earmarked for teachers’ salaries. Thus the process of lowering the salary of teachers began, moving away from the standard that they previously had in comparison with other professions. This is infor-mation from Melchior (1980), one of the few researchers dedicated to studies on the financial aspects of the teaching profession in Brazil.

A portrait of the evolution of secondary school shows some of the inflections on its identity.

From the 1930s onwards, although not compulsory, schools in the official state network, as well as those in the private network, offered primary school, which was compulsory, and secondary education. This equaled Brazil to other countries, such as France, which had a strong influence on the Brazilian educational system. Secondary education had, at that time, great prestige, as a fundamental component of the formation of the youth of the elites, also being known as a junior secondary school, immortalized in the literature by the well-known work of Raul Pompéia “The Athenaeum” (2000).

Although not easily accessible, secondary school was, from the 1940s and 1950s onwards, much sought after by middle-class families, socially positioned below the elite and representing a modest percentage of the population. For their children, secondary education, though with only a fairly general preparation in the disciplines considered basic ensured penetration into slightly higher social strata and perhaps even the possibility of a job, such as a simple bureaucratic function in a bank, or in a firm. Its diploma was considered very important and deserved a solemn ceremony.

Besides junior secondary school, there were other modalities like those with commercial, in-dustrial and agricultural activities. A very small number of schools offered the introduction to practices or techniques related to these domains, aiming at directing their graduates to spe-cific jobs. Students who benefited from this education were admitted to industries or firms on slightly more favorable terms than others who were supposed to start from scratch, learning everything on the job. In the mid-1940s, the activities of the “System S” institutions, an impor-tant government-backed initiative, started. They provided training for young people interes- ted in obtaining employment in the fields of industry, commerce, and agriculture. This training responded to at least part of the country’s needs in its development, more or less suc-cessfully. It was, thus, a secondary school aligned with this development, although reaching a very modest number of beneficiaries.

For girls, the preparation for teaching in primary school was already being consolidated at this level of education, through the Normal School. This was the main access to professional work for women, even though the classification as a professional deserves a specific discussion (Lüdke

CURRICULUM AND TEACHER EDUCATION IN SECONDARY SCHOOL POLICIES IN BRAZIL & Boing, 2004). The Normal Schools also established themselves as a successful example of the articulation between theoretical and practical training in the preparation of future teachers for primary education at that time, thanks to a good combination of factors well analyzed by various scholars, such as Schaffel (1999). Aparecida Joly Gouveia, in her well-known work, Teachers of Tomorrow (1970), makes clear the introductory character to the teaching work done by this secondary school modality of great importance in our educational history.

In the 1950s, a major structural change extended the duration of basic education, adding a period of three years that would take the place of secondary school as described so far. This new period was divided into two courses, the scientific, in the areas of Engineering and Exact Sciences, and the classical, closer to the field of Humanities. These studies became compulso-ry for university candidates, who would enter if they passed the entrance examination, which since then has represented the great tormentor of young elite students. Often, entrance exams meant a year or more of preparing in the famous “cram school”. Students, with very high costs, sought to overcome the shortcomings left by secondary school, because the competition was very high, for the reduced number of places in the few institutions of higher education.

The identity of this new secondary school was clearly defined by its orientation toward the university. The entrance examination, as the term implies, allowed entry to those deemed fit to follow the requirements of a tertiary level course and then to pursue a professional career closely linked to it. This led to a situation where the focus of the work of teachers and students, of the curriculum, was at the service of those who already had the social and cultural capital necessary to advance to a higher degree (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1964). The concluding period of education understood as basic for all young people was a hostage of the preparation for the next step: higher education.

The new secondary school, coming after preschool education, the old primary and the old se- condary school had the primary function of preparing students for higher education. Over time, this period of schooling failed the expectations of students who wanted an opportunity of formal education but not to pursue higher education as it focused on preparation for that level of study.

At the end of the 20^th century, another discussion was brought upon the secondary school, as the long-debated question of the role of the secondary school in the development of young peo-ple gained strength. The debate focused on the balance between the preparation for citizenship and the preparation for the job market. This placed this intermediate phase of unclear iden-tity between the general formation, indispensable for every citizen, and the preparation for a job. As the idea of a secondary school that sought to integrate the two basic functions began to be tested in some schools, its challenges were unveiled and its problems debated intensely by scholars. Old impasses surfaced between what was understood as general secondary school education and what was characterized as technical secondary school, a branch of professional education. Heated debates, combining political and pedagogical arguments, not always with a necessary balance, crossed the late 20^th century into the 21^st century, accompanying government initiatives, not always welcomed by teachers and researchers committed to finding solutions to address well-known problems. Key topics were raised, such as structuring a new secondary school course integrated with a new curriculum convincingly encompassing the culture of

PART 2 CURRICULUM POLICIES both educational perspectives. The discussions also included the need for teachers prepared to work in an integrated way and school leadership and guidance teams, essential for tackling the challenge.

At the beginning of the 2010s, research on secondary school (Cabral Neto & Castro, 2011; Ferreti, 2011; Kuenzer, 2011; Machado, 2011; Ramos, 2011) offers a picture of many of the problems that are still faced but also offering some solutions that could gradually help to combine the two types of curriculum.