April 19, 2019
More than 3,000 schools in Brazil recognize and adapt to indigenous knowledge transmission systems.
In indigenous conceptions of childhood, children are educated in collective coexistence – with other children, young people, adults and the elderly – and in social spaces. By placing them in spaces specifically for children, such as daycare centers and schools, they are removed from this coexistence and introduced to a Westernized model of education that does not necessarily align with indigenous pedagogies. It is important to remember that, after all, indigenous peoples were the first inhabitants of this land and developed their own systems of transmitting knowledge throughout their history, which are much older than the existence of schools in the territory we now call Brazil.
Indigenous schools in the School Census
According to the 2015 School Census, there are 3,085 indigenous schools in Brazil, with a total of 285,000 students and 20,000 teachers who serve around 305 ethnic groups and speak 274 different languages. “Indigenous” is a word that refers to very diverse groups, with different values, habits and beliefs. An indigenous school needs to balance elements of the national curriculum with the specificities of the culture in which it is inserted. Since the 1988 Constitution, indigenous peoples have the right to an intercultural, bilingual/multilingual and community-based school education. This means that indigenous school education is included in the national system, but respects the diversity and specificities of the cultures of native peoples, making room for:
- Teaching in indigenous languages in addition to Portuguese;
- A school calendar adapted to the ritual and daily activities of each context;
- The transmission of traditional knowledge within the school;
- Community participation in decisions about school objectives.
In this way, the right of indigenous peoples to have schools that respect their way of life is ensured, no longer imposing a Westernized education.
Application of the Common National Curriculum Base
The subjects and content provided for in the National Common Curricular Base (2017) are provided in these schools, but they can also receive treatment that is more closely linked to the cultural context of each people, as in the following examples:
Sometimes we study a little about the Moon, in a Math problem, but we are studying Astronomy, Physics and Geography, together. Sometimes, we are writing a text about the hills, about the forest, about the waters, so we are doing a Geography project together.
Kanatyo, Professor Pataxó, MG.
Also, in each place of these lands there is hard soil, sandy soil, red soil, black soil, clay soil. The dry land is important for growing crops, but we cannot live on the dry land, because it receives more rays than the low land. The dry land helps us, because we communicate better from a distance with other people in other dry lands.
Indigenous teachers from Acre.
Today we talked and wrote about what we studied last year on the subject of biological plant sciences. They wrote about how to sow seeds and make a nursery. Some of them said that the nursery is very important, it is a safe place to plant food such as fruit trees, which are good for your health.
Edson Ixã, Professor Kaxinawá, AC.
(Source: National Curricular Framework for Indigenous Schools )
Furthermore, indigenous school curricula include knowledge specific to their cultures, such as traditional knowledge passed down by elders and even elements of the histories of other indigenous peoples. This is another point in common with the national curriculum: for over a decade, teaching indigenous history in Brazilian schools has been the law.
From the point of view of teacher training, the 2012 National Curricular Guidelines for Indigenous Education stipulate that all teachers must be from the villages where they teach. This is because, as we mentioned above, it is not possible to think of a standard training for teachers in this type of school. Since each school is shaped by the culture in which it is inserted, it makes sense that teachers are part of the same culture as the students, and therefore prepared to deal with their realities. In any case, undergraduate courses, such as pedagogy, are required by the resolution that regulates them to train future teachers to also work in indigenous schools.
As Cléia Santos de Aprígio, director of the Capitão Francisco Rodelas State Indigenous School in Bahia , summarizes, the goal of the indigenous school is to educate citizens who are capable of living in different social contexts, without giving up their traditions and roots. Students and teachers must always seek indigenous self-affirmation.