Brazilian education level is considered low compared to developed countries, especially in public schools, despite of many private schools also have low level.
Organization And Structure
Education is divided into three levels, with several grades in each division.Fundamental education (the first education level, including fundamental education one and two) is free for everyone (including adults), and mandatory for children between the ages of 6-14 Middle education (the second educational level) is also free, but it is not mandatory.Higher education (including graduate degrees ) is free at public universities.
Pre-School Education (Educacao Infantil)
Pre-school education is entirely optional, and exists to aid in the development of children under 6.It aims to assist in all aeras of child development, including motor skills, cognitive skills, and social skills while providing fertile ground for the later acquisition of knowledge and learning. There are day nursies for children under 2, kindergartens for 2-3 year olds, and preschools for children 4 and up. Public pre-schools are provided by city government.Elementary School (Ensino Fundamental)
Fundamental Education is mandatory for children ages 6-14. There are 9 "years" (as opposed to the former 8 "grades"). The current "First Year" broadly corresponds to the former Pre-school last year of private institutions and its aim is to achieve literacy. Generally speaking, the only prerequisite for enrolling in the first year is that a child should be 6 years old, but some educational systems allow children younger than 6 to enroll in first year (as long as they turn 6 during the first academic semester) .Older students who, for whatever reason have not completed their fundamental education are allowed to attend, through over 18 are separated from the younger children.The Federal Council of Education (Conselho Federal de Educacao) establishes a core curriculum consisting of Portuguese, History, Geography, Science, Mathematica, Arts, and physical education (for years 2,3,4 and 5). As for 6,7,8 and 9, one or two foreign languages are also compulsary (usually English and also Spanish).
Each educational system supplements this core curriculum with a diversified curriculum defined by the needs of the region and the abilities of individual students.
Fundamental Education is divided into two stages, called Ensino Fundamental one (years 1-5) and Ensino fundamental two (years 6-9). During Ensino Fundamental one each group of students is usually assisted by a single teacher. As for Ensino Fundamental two, there are as many teachers as subjects.
The length of the school year is set by the National Education Bases and Guidelines Law (Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educacao) atleast 200 days. Fundamental schools must provide students with atleast 800 hours of activities per year. The actual school calender is set by an individual schools which, in rural aeras, often organize their calenders according to planting and harvesting seasons.
High School (ensino Medio)
Medium education takes 3 years. The minimum is 2,200 hours pf coursework over 3 years. Students must have finished their Fundamental education before they are allowed to enroll in Ensino Medio. sedcondary education core curriculum comprises Portugese (including Portugese language, Brazilian and Portugese literatures), foreign language (usually English also spanish and very rarely French today), History, Geography, Mathematics, Physics Chemistry and Biology. Recently Philosophy and sociology, which were banned during the military dictatorship (1964-1985), became compulsary again.It is possible to take professional training along with mainstream Secondary education. Professional training courses usually last 2 years and can take during the 2nd and 3rd years of Secondary education. Some Secondary schools provide training in agriculture. Such schools usually have a greater amount of instructional hours per week and the complete course lasts 3 or 4 years.
Higher Education (Ensino Superior)-Universities and Higher Education in Brazil
Secondary education is mandatory for those wishing to pursue higher education. In addition, students must pass a competitive entrance examination (known as vestibular) for their specific course of study. The number of candidates per available place in the freshman class may be in excess 30 or 40 to one in the most competitive courses at the top public universities. In some particular courses with small number of vacancies, this number can be as high as 200.As is case in many nations, higher education in Brazil can be divided into undergraduate and graduate work. In addition to providing education, Universities promote research and provide separate classes to the community.
The standard Brazilian undergraduate degree styled bacharelado, is awarded in most fields of Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, mathematical sciences, or natural sciences, and normally requires 4 years of post-secondary studies at a certified university. Students who wish to qualify as secondary teachers must complete a separate licentiate ("licenciatura") degree course, which, like a "bacharelado", also has a normal length of 4 years, but has a stronger emphasis on teaching methods and pedagogy. There is also a graduate in tecnology (whose graduates are called technologists), which emphasizes professional education geared to the labor market and the development of studies in the area of technology, sepecially in health, information technology, engineering and management. The degree in technology normally requires 2 to 4 years of studies in a certified university or college.
Five-year degrees leading to a professional diploma are awarded in select state-regulated careers such as architecture, engineering veterinary medicine,psychology, and law. The professional degree in medicine requires in turn six years of full-time post-secondary studiess. Residencia, a two-to-five years internship in a teaching hospital is not required, but it is pursued by many professionals, especially those who wish to specialize in a given area.
Students who hold a technology diploma, a licenciatura diploma, a bachelor's degree or a five-year professional diploma are qualified for admission into graduate school (posgraduacao). Graduate master's degrees are normally awarded following the completion of a two year program requiring satisfactory performance in a minimum number of advanced graduate courses (typically between five and eight classes), plus the submission by the degree candidate of a master's thesis (dissertacao de mestrado) that is examined by an oral panel of atleast three faculty members, including atleast one external examiner. Doctoral degrees on the other hand normally require fours of full-time studies during which the degree candidate is required to complete further advanced graduate coursework, pass a doctoral qualifying exam, and submit an extensive doctoral dissertation (tese de doutorado) that must represent an original and relevant contribution to current knowledge in the field of study to which the dissertation topic belongs.
The doctoral dissertation is examined in a final public oral exam administered by a panel of at least five members, two of whom must be external examiners. Results from the dissertation are normally expected to be published in peer-reviewed journals, proceedings of international conferences, and/ or in the form of books/book chapters.
