EMEIs of Porto Alegre
The proposed partnership between Lumiar Institute and the EMEIs of Porto Alegre was seen as a possibility to innovate the early childhood education system, with the purpose of forming a more solid basis for the subsequent schooling, including: development of children’s autonomy so that they arrive at the elementary school more secure, with essential skills already explored, a more diverse repertoire and greater connection with reality.
A technical cooperation agreement was signed with the Municipal Secretariat of Education, with an expected duration of 4 years (2020 to 2024), to execute the pilot project in the Children’s Education Schools, EMEIs: Ilha da Pintada, Bairro da Cavalhada, Santo Expedito, and Vila Nova. The initiative also has financial support from the Jama Institute.
Still in the second half of 2019, the Lumiar Institute team made an initial diagnosis to understand the current scenario of the selected schools and outlined the action plan to start the formative activities.
Initial action plan
The trainings focused on the introduction of new methodological and didactic concepts to the training process, and internal planning of the teams of managers and educators and their pedagogical proposals.
With the return of classroom activities in a non-mandatory manner, 2021 was still a year of many adaptations, with special attention to the rescue and construction of school bonds. As the months went by, more children returned to the classroom and more pedagogical practices of active learning were developed.
With the flexibility of the face-to-face meetings, the Lumiar Institute team was able to return with the on-site monitoring visits, which are part of the methodology implementation process, to closely monitor and validate the entire training process, to observe the practices translated into the children’s spaces and routines, to carry out the diagnostic assessment activities and the training meetings, and to get to know in more detail the realities of the schools and the communities involved.
Caption: visit of the Lumiar Institute team at EMEI Santo Expedito in October 2021.
Image Caption: EMEI Santo Expedito representatives, tutor Michelle Dutra and coordinator Luiza Brunichaki, during the presentation of the Mosaic platform to families and the delivery of the final period reports;
Consolidated Progress of the EMEIS
From the beginning of the project until the end of 2021, more than 380 hours were dedicated to training the pedagogical and management teams, and to advising and monitoring the partner schools, which demonstrated their commitment to education through the projects and daily practices.
INCREASE IN PEDAGOGICAL INTENTIONALITY
ACTIVE LEARNING AND PLANNING IMPROVEMENTS
From the beginning of the partnership, in 2020, to the end of 2021, we had 87% progress in the pedagogical practices that include projects, individual projects, modules, workshops, and World Readings
SKILLS AND CONTENT ASSESSED
The following chart represents the 4 partner EMEIS in 2020 and the 6 partner EMEIS in 2021.
In addition to the data highlighted above, below we share the Highlights and Impacts generated by the implementation of the Lumiar methodology from the perspective of the technical staff of Early Childhood Education at the Porto Alegre Department of Education, who participated directly in the entire process.
HIGHLIGHTS AND IMPACTS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LUMIAR METHODOLOGY IN THE PARTNER SCHOOLS AND THE NETWORK OF PORTO ALEGRE, DURING THE PERIOD 2020 AND 2021.
– The training process for managers to multiply knowledge with their teams and qualify the methodological practices in schools;
– Systematic monitoring to promote greater autonomy in participatory management;
– Indications of theoretical support;
– Registration strategies;
– Time management;
– Creation of committees;
– Listening to the children for decision making;
– Highlight for the Closing Party for the children who were finishing kindergarten, when they could choose the model or color of the T-shirts and participated in the creation process;
– Qualification of the records and planning: with an in-depth study about the conceptions of Early Childhood Education;
Organization and qualification of the spaces so that they could offer better opportunities to raise the children’s interests;
– Curating the Pedagogical Records of the Schools that are implementing the Lumiar methodology: the studies developed contributed so that every day/ routine was always thought of with the well-being and meaningful learning in mind.
– Pedagogical Proposal for Early Childhood Education (elaborated in the second semester of 2021): The studies developed on the Lumiar methodology and especially on the children’s routine at school culminated in the proposal Cenário Tempos, which counted with the participation of the working groups of the 4 regions (north, south, east, west) and with the working group of SMED Early Childhood Education;
– Involvement of families in monitoring the children’s development: in 2021, the Santo Expedito EMEI made the Mosaico platform available to guardians, so that they could monitor the children’s development, both in relation to content and to skills and competencies. The other partner schools are studying the possibility of providing access in the 2022 school year.
TESTIMONIALS
TESTIMONIALS
“The partnership with Lumiar Institute has expanded our repertoire and promoted reflections about our educational management work. In addition to the highlights experienced in the schools, I would like to emphasize the relevance of the project for the Municipal Education Secretariat. We learned to plan formative meetings with more detail and intentionality. We learned to systematically evaluate our processes. We learned to give feedback. And, also, based on the experiences lived, we organized debates in our Network about the planning of the times children live in schools. The Tempos Scenario, of the new pedagogical proposal, was a great delivery!”
Fernanda Guimarães – Children’s Education Coordinator from Porto Alegre
“Being able to delve into the pillars of the methodology and the organizational modalities provided a new way to organize planning, records and assessments, bringing the intentions of management and educators to validate the practices with children, meeting their interests. Understanding the organization by projects, workshops, World Readings and Rounds, allows us to ensure moments to research, investigate, explore, participate, play and interact, making visible in our planning the guarantee of the learning rights of the BNCC, as well as the significant experiences of each child and group. Using the platform as a tool to support the organization of routines and recording also made us have an integral view of the students’ processes.”
“The challenges of implementing the Lumiar Methodology are not greater than the richness and potency of this experience. The achievements are many and can be seen in the organization of the school, in the reorganization of practices, spaces and materials. I am part of a team that challenges itself, is uncomfortable and grows together with the children, because as Paulo Fochi says, ‘school is no longer the place to teach, but the place to learn’. It is of a place like this that I speak and that I am very proud to be part of, having the partnership of Lumiar’s advisors and Porto Alegre’s Municipal Secretariat of Education as great masters in this project.”
Paula Kaminski- Director of the Emei do Bairro Cavalhada
“The trainings are very enriching with the Lumiar’s pedagogical advisors, who at each meeting brought us a more poetic look about childhood, and also about the methodology, welcoming doubts, suggesting improvements and guiding in a light and practical way, always respecting our identity as a school already established”
Luiza de Salles Brunichaki – Pedagogical Coordinator of EMEI Santo Expedito.