The scorching, arid northeastern state of Ceará, Brazil has long been known for growing cashews and coconuts. Now, it's defied expectations by cultivating one of the world's best public elementary school systems, despite high rates of poverty. How Sobral transformed its public school system and attained near-universal literacy offers lessons for…

Social, political and economic relationships in the Amazon are mediated by nature and government policies, programs, and regulations, including environmental education policies, which have disseminated the concept of sustainable development in over recent years. Based on these elements, this study explores the social representations that give…

Brazil spends more money, and a higher percentage of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), on education than other Latin American countries. However, many of the outcomes of the country's education system are worse than its peer countries. We call this mismatch Brazil's Education Paradox. One of the primary reasons for Brazil's Education Paradox is…

The focus in this article is on Brazilian education policy, specifically quality assurance and evaluation. The starting point is that quality, measured by means of large-scale assessments, is one of the key discursive justifications for educational change. The article addresses the questions of how quality evaluation became a significant feature…

The goal of Education for All (EFA) is in jeopardy, and the cause is widely perceived to be a lack of political will. But we lack an accurate definition of political will. In this article, I offer a definition that determines beforehand whether a government will have political will. In contrast to current academic work and popular discourse, which…