Constructing High School Curriculum: A partnership between Stanford University and the São Paulo State Department of Education

Constructing High School Curriculum: A partnership between Stanford University and the São Paulo State Department of Education

How can the production of academic knowledge contribute to the formulation of educational public policies? The theories learned in higher education courses can reach students and teachers in Brazil? What are the opportunities and challenges to connect the academy with schools’ reality? In this presentation, we will share the process and product of a partnership between Stanford Masters students and the São Paulo State Department of Education in the construction of the new high school curriculum, based on the BNCC (Base Nacional Comum Curricular). Through this experience as an illustrative and real example, we will raise some topics to the discussion, such as:

• How power structures relate to curriculum decisions?
• Which are the core elements that make up a powerful and aligned curriculum?
• How to identify a curriculum ideology?
• What is the role of different stakeholders in the curriculum construction process (teachers, students, parents, specialists, policymakers)?
• What are the main challenges of curriculum implementation?

About the presenters

Ana Machado is a MA candidate in Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies. She is a specialist in Youth Psychosociology and Public Policy and has been working with education in Brazil for the past eight years. Ana co-founded an English school for low-income students on the outskirts of São Paulo, was the principal of a private school, and supported NGOs and governments in projects to improve education. She was also selected as a Leader of Tomorrow by the University of Saint Gallen (Switzerland) in 2018, elected as a Forbes Under 30 leader in 2019, and chose as a Lemann Ambassador in 2020.

Ariane Faria is a MA Candidate in International Education Policy Analysis where she has been studying how to develop subject matter and pedagogical content knowledge in pre-service teachers. She has also a master’s degree in Education from the University of Sao Paulo where she studied the distribution of Opportunities to Learn mathematics in Brazilian education. She is a former Philosophy high school teacher at the state of São Paulo and has worked as a researcher in the implementation of several Brazilian curricular reforms.

Hugo Chaves is a MA Candidate in International Comparative Education. He has an undergraduate bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Moreover, he has been working with constructing culturally relevant educational activities for public school students in Brazil for five years. After the MA he is heading to Nigeria to build a leadership program in a boarding school, hoping to get back to Brazil right after and keep constructing a healthier and more engaging school environment for students and teachers.