The GETs Program: Teachers’ Experiences Bringing Active Learning and Technology to Rio de Janeiro’s Public Schools

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  In Poster Session: The GETs Program: Teachers’ Experiences Bringing Active Learning and Technology to Rio de Janeiro’s Public Schools

Proposal

This study examines how teachers adapt to a new school model integrating technology and active methodologies in Rio de Janeiro’s public schools. As a large city in a developing country, Rio faces challenges such as poverty, inequality, and violence. Understanding how disruptive pedagogical models are implemented in such contexts can offer valuable insights for policymaking.

The Technological Educational Schools (GETs) program, launched in 2022, operates in 200 public elementary and middle schools in Rio. The policy consists of installing maker labs in schools, hiring a lab teacher, and adding a new subject, called “Interdisciplinary Project,” to the curriculum. In this subject, students use the lab to develop projects that connect various disciplines and apply them to real-world contexts. Over time, it is expected that this project-based approach will extend beyond the lab and transform the entire school. The policy’s long-term objectives are to improve students' academic achievement, foster the development of cognitive and socio-emotional skills, and enhance digital skills.
This program requires significant adaptation from teachers, introducing unfamiliar pedagogical approaches and demanding new abilities. Given these challenges, this research focuses on two questions:
1. How do GETs teachers assimilate and implement this model?
2. What contextual factors influence their ability to do so?

Methods

The research uses a mixed-methods approach. Policy monitoring questionnaires, completed every two months by principals, provide quantitative data on the implementation of pedagogical guidelines. Qualitative data were gathered from visits to eight GET schools, varying in student age groups, socioeconomic backgrounds, and performance on standardized assessments. Each visit lasted about four hours and included one-hour interviews with teachers, 30-minute interviews with principals, and classroom observations in the lab.

Findings

Preliminary analyses indicate that teachers generally support the program and believe it is positively impacting students, particularly in developing cognitive, socio-emotional, and digital skills. However, many are skeptical about its potential impact on standardized test scores, which contrasts with policymakers’ expectations. Teachers highlighted the program’s ability to support different students, offering extra resources for those struggling while enabling high-achieving students to pursue advanced projects. Teachers also vary in their understanding of the program’s goals: some emphasize the importance of aligning projects with curricular content, while others focus on technology use without clarifying their pedagogical intentions.

Challenges mentioned included a lack of planning time and difficulties in using technology. Additionally, some teachers expressed hesitation about trusting students with sophisticated and expensive equipment. There were also concerns that the community might damage or destroy the space, particularly in violent areas. Nonetheless, many were enthusiastic about the unique opportunities these resources offer, especially for students with limited access to technology at home.

Conclusion

Teachers are the most fundamental element in ensuring innovative educational approaches are successfully integrated into practice, and their ability to do so is shaped by their beliefs, training, and the challenges they face. By considering the experiences of teachers in the GETs program, policymakers can design innovative educational policies that are more adaptable to the realities of these contexts, either in Rio, Brazil, or similar settings worldwide.

Author

• Helena Werneck, Swarthmore College