The year 2022 began differently in the classrooms of Maranhão, pointing toward new directions for the Learning: Inside and Outside of School project, which has been implemented since 2019 in five municipalities in the Médio Mearim region. With the support of Eneva, we continue to contribute to the professional qualification of local staff and the ongoing learning process of children in Maranhão, but this time within the context of the return to in-person classes, which began in the second half of 2021.
LABEDU’s technical leadership drew upon the achievements of Pedagogical Supervisors and Coordinators regarding the alignment of pedagogical planning with the theoretical and practical foundations of the Maranhão Territorial Curricular Document (DCTMA) to expand the project’s fronts of action. “We began investing in two key actors to consolidate progress and strengthen the coordination between the training and mobilization axes: school principals and technical staff from the Departments of Education,” comments Gisele Goller, the project coordinator. The goal is to strengthen the performance of these professionals, supporting principals in integrating families into the schools’ Political-Pedagogical Projects and the Departments of Education (SEMEDs) in facilitating the conditions for this to occur. “We know that the participation of the SEMED teams is also essential so that Pedagogical Coordinators and Supervisors can constantly develop their roles as trainers for the network’s teachers,” Gisele adds. Another deciding factor for this direction was the local demand for the maintenance of actions that, during school closures, encouraged family engagement regarding learning proposals—which also reflected positively on the language development of children in these municipalities.
With the resumption of in-person activities, it was possible to diversify strategies for the educators’ literacy training. More than 400 teachers participated in book appreciation and reading mediation workshops held in June 2022, which were also attended by Pedagogical Supervisors and Coordinators. “The Learning project made teachers open their eyes and awaken to the power of books,” says Ana Luiza, a teacher at an urban school in Trizidela do Vale. The distribution of books to schools was undoubtedly a unifying factor, providing conditions for the students’ literacy development as well. Seven titles of different genres, authors, illustrators, and publishers were delivered to each school, resulting in 777 copies distributed. In addition to the schools, children also received copies of children’s literature books at home. In partnership with the Itaú Social Foundation – Read to a Child Program, we provided four titles to all children enrolled in Early Childhood Education and the 1st year of Elementary School in the Médio Mearim municipalities. A total of 23,180 units were delivered. In addition to the direct impact on children and families, the books will be used in the training meetings scheduled for the coming months with Principals, Coordinators, and Supervisors.
Numerous testimonials capture part of the impact that the arrival of these books has on the school routine and beyond.
“I didn’t have the habit of reading at home… we started doing that with this work during the pandemic. I notice that the child becomes more communicative. The child develops a taste for reading… She recognizes the letters in the book. (…) In my childhood, I didn’t have contact with books, not storybooks like these… only from the 5th grade onward with textbooks… I think if I had had this contact that children have nowadays, I would have enjoyed it more and been more involved… With this work, even I felt like reading storybooks,” says Eline, mother of a 4-year-old student in Trizidela do Vale.
“After the work developed with families during the pandemic, I started always setting aside daily time, like 1h or 1h30, to be with my children…. I sit on the floor with them and we draw, paint, talk, play school…” says Thaís, mother of a 5-year-old student in Povoado Jequiri, Trizidela do Vale.
Parallel to the work carried out in the Early Childhood Education networks of Lima Campos, Pedreiras, Trizidela do Vale, Santo Antônio dos Lopes, and Capinzal do Norte, we contributed to the development of the role of Regional Pedagogical Articulators (APRs) as trainers of trainers who guide the mirroring of the project by Municipal Pedagogical Articulators (APMs) in their respective territories. In this way, we ensure that the other 212 municipalities in the State are also reached, in a proposal that strengthens the collaborative regime.