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…

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…

We discuss oral history interviews with academics who laid the foundation of research and pedagogies in daycare for under three-year-olds in Europe and North and South America since the 1970s. Their work is clearly embedded in the social-political context of their country: the left-wing programmes for disadvantaged families in the U.S.A.;…

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…

Higher education in Brazil began based on institutions organized as isolated establishments, and mostly privately owned. Nonetheless, public institutions created as universities and developing research activities and other services became the desired ideal for higher education. The first educational institutions in Brazil were created in the…

Focuses on the contribution of action research to teachers' inservice education at elementary schools in the Rio de Janeiro local system of education, linking thought and action. The development of this action research has brought to light ethical, scientific, and political questions in the school system. Contains 15 references. (AMA)

The Brazilian system of higher education is discussed, including its evolution, the 1968 reform and its unintended consequences, and the recommendations of the 1985 presidential commission on higher education. Issues of interinstitutional diversity, institutional autonomy, and the influence of special interest groups on policy are addressed.…

Accounts for the surge in Afro-Brazilian literacy production of the late 1970s and early 1980s from the perspective of Brazil's changing political life and a growth of racial consciousness. Presents a broad overview of recent Brazilian political and literary history. Focuses on racial politics and Afro-Brazilians in the Brazilian literary market.…

Political forces in Brazil have caused significant economic changes, including hyperinflation, and policy that threaten higher education in a variety of ways, including failure to expand during a period of economic strength, severe loss of academic autonomy, lowering of academic and administrative standards, and declines in teacher education and…

The Brazilian educational finance system faces three principal problems: the persistence of large regional and intrastate inequalities on all wealth and development indices; the federal government's predominance in controlling revenue sources; and the education system's openness to political abuses. Disparities can only be rectified by…

Serious problems in education in Latin America arising from political, economic, and social change periodically put in question the status, objectives, and manner of French second-language instruction. A number of solutions to general and specific pedagogical problems are proposed. (MSE)

Investigations into the Brazilian education system indicate the system's inadequacies in democratizing education. Instead, education is accessible to those who can afford it and not to those who most need it. Although research evidence consistently shows the positive relationship between socioeconomic characteristics and school access and…

A review of the evolution of Brazilian policy for higher education concludes that the conflicts, shifts in decision arenas, and decisional paralysis reflect (1) basic lack of consensus in the nature, goals, and possibilities of higher education in a society, and (2) disagreement about the resources available to a government. (Author/MSE)

Major patterns of relationship between the public and private sectors in Latin American higher education are discussed. Three key evolutionary waves are identified that have led to three private-public patterns dominant in Latin America today. For both the public and private sectors, attention is directed to origins and growth, who pays and rules,…