THE NEW BOOK “THE REVOLUTION OF EDUCATION NEEDED IN BRAZIL IN THE CONTEMPORARY ERA” BY FERNANDO ALCOFORADO
(How to revolutionize the education system in Brazil and State of Bahia and the teaching of Engineering in Brazil)
Author: Fernando Alcoforado
Publisher: Editora CRV from Curitiba/ Paraná
Fernando Alcoforado*
This book, soon-to-be-published, aims to present what and how to do to promote a revolution in the Brazilian education system that has become necessary because Brazilian education is going through an unprecedented crisis. This crisis results, on the one hand, from the lack of an efficient and effective education system and, on the other hand, from the lack of government policies that contribute to overcoming the current problems of education and adapting it to the ongoing technological changes that impact on the world of work and society in general. The fact that the education system in Brazil is inefficient and ineffective prevents it from operating as a factor of economic and social development and contributing to the social ascension of the lower layers of the population. The lack of a new education policy adjusted to the ongoing technological changes prevents Brazil from increasing the productivity of its workers and jeopardizing its economic and social development. The education revolution to be carried out in Brazil initially aims to eliminate existing weaknesses in fundamental, secondary and higher education to later adapt them to the imperatives of the contemporary era.
The weaknesses of elementary and secondary education in Brazil are evidenced by the poor results obtained by Brazilian students in the PISA International Student Assessment Program, which seeks to measure the knowledge and ability in reading, mathematics and science of 15-year-old students whether in industrialized member countries of the OECD and in partner countries. In turn, the weaknesses of higher education in Brazil are demonstrated by the ranking of universities worldwide carried out by THE (Times Higher Education) which evaluates the performance of university students and academic production in the areas of engineering and technology, arts and humanities, life sciences, health, physics and social sciences and also considers research, knowledge transfer and international perspective, in addition to the teaching environment. Brazilian universities have ranked far from the best universities in the world. In order to change this reality, it is necessary to carry out a revolution in basic education and not just carry out specific reforms in education. In order to overcome the existing weaknesses in fundamental, secondary and higher education in Brazil, it is necessary to make a revolution in Brazilian education at all levels.
The education revolution to be carried out in Brazil must prepare and continuously update Brazilians for the current and future job market and to deal with the complexity of the world we live in and will live in the future with the ongoing technological advances related to artificial intelligence, the 4th Industrial Revolution and 5G Internet in the field of communications, among other technologies that revolutionize society. Brazil’s new education system must prepare and update Brazilians for the job market that is changing because of these technological revolutions in which everyone will have to deal with a highly complex environment with super-intelligent machines. The education system in Brazil must be restructured, from kindergarten to higher education, taking inspiration from the most successful educational policies practiced by the best education systems in the world, such as those in Finland, South Korea, Japan and Switzerland, among others.
The education revolution to be carried out in Brazil must also prepare Brazilians to exercise full citizenship by putting into practice the teachings of Anísio Teixeira and Paulo Freire, among other measures. According to Anísio Teixeira, the new responsibilities of education are to educate instead of instructing, to form free men instead of docile men and to face the uncertainties of the future. In turn, Paulo Freire defended an education for economic development and for the construction of democracy, considered education as an instrument for transforming society, refuted the traditional teaching method, proposing that the teacher should be a facilitator of the student’s learning process and not a mere communicator of content. Finally, the education revolution to be carried out in Brazil must provide social and psychological assistance to students and families of needy students through services, benefits, programs and projects that support them in facing their difficulties and the use of positive psychology in educating people to help students to know how to correctly interpret the world and themselves.
In order to delineate the strategies capable of promoting the necessary revolution in the education system in Brazil, its performance was evaluated, the best education systems in the world were analyzed, the requirements for the education of the future in Brazil were identified and defined to promote the education revolution in Brazil. This book incorporates texts from articles that we have published in recent years of activity on various websites and specialized magazines through which we present the advances made in the area of education in Brazil and in the world. The methodology used in the elaboration of this book consisted, basically, of structuring its chapters with the use of articles object of studies and researches published by me in several websites and specialized magazines approaching the topics referring to each chapter.
This book features the following chapters:
Chapter 2- The performance of the education system in Brazil
In this chapter, the weaknesses of the education system in Brazil that cause it to present poor performance are pointed out and analyzed. The following topics are covered in this chapter:
• The weaknesses of the education system in Brazil and how to eliminate them
• The weaknesses of the Temer government’s proposal to reform secondary education in Brazil
• The weaknesses of Brazil’s National Education Plan
Chapter 3- The main education systems in the world
In this chapter, the best existing education systems in the world are analyzed, such as those of Finland, France, China, the United States, Cuba, South Korea and Japan, as well as the Bologna higher education projects of the European Union and the Universidade Nova in Brazil, based on which its success factors were identified. The following topics are covered in this chapter:
• Finland: paradigm of education in the world (1)
• Finland: paradigm of education in the world (2)
• France’s education system
• China’s education system
• The US education system
• The education system in Cuba
• Foundations of successful education in South Korea and Japan
• The success factors of education policies in Finland and South Korea
• The Bologna higher education projects of the European Union and Universidade Nova in Brazil
• Success factors of the best education systems in the world
Chapter 4- The requirements for the education of the future in Brazil
In this chapter, it is presented what the education system in Brazil must do to plan the preparation and recycling of people for the labor market of the future, collaborate in the fight against violence and overcome social alienation in the country, promote the formation of the individual critical, reflective, thought of as cultivation of the spirit, as a condition for the advancement of humanity, from an ethical and political angle, with the objective of social integration and the construction of citizenship. To bring about these changes, Brazil’s education system needs to rely on the decisive role of highly qualified teachers. This chapter presents the requirements for the education of the future in Brazil in light of these changes. The following topics are covered in this chapter:
• Future-oriented education
• New education required in an economic future with intelligent machines
• The future of work and education in the world
• Is education the guarantee of employment and social ascension in the future?
• Social justice and education are the weapons to fight violence in Brazil and in the world
• Education and social alienation
Chapter 5- How to promote the education revolution in Brazil
In this chapter, strategies to promote the education revolution in Brazil are presented, addressing the following topics:
• In defense of a revolution in education in Brazil
• In defense of a new education and a new teacher in Brazil
• In defense of teachers and education in Brazil
• Bases of the education system for Brazil in the contemporary era
• The revolution in education needed by Brazil
• The education revolution necessary for Brazil
• Civic effort for education in Brazil
• The education required in Brazil in the 21st Century
ANNEXES
1- Inaugural speech by Professor Fernando Alcoforado as an academic at the Bahia Academy of Education on 04/16/2014
2- How to revolutionize the education system in the State of Bahia
3- How to revolutionize the teaching of Engineering in Brazil
This book is intended for managers in the area of education, government agencies dedicated to education, teachers and anyone who wishes to acquire extensive knowledge about the practice of education in Brazil and in the world.
*FERNANDO ALCOFORADO is PhD in Territorial Planning and Regional Development from the University of Barcelona, Graduated in Electrical Engineering from the Federal University of Bahia and Specialist in Economic Engineering and Industrial Administration from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He served as a professor for 50 years teaching subjects in Engineering, Economics and Administration and as an engineer for 60 years, in addition to holding management positions in the public and private sectors, and is the author of 17 books.
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