Recently, as the 19th G20 Leaders' Summit was grandly held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Brazil, the Brazilian Gold Medal Mathematics Teachers Training Program hosted by the Centre in September 2024 has once again drawn attention. A report by China Daily on November 19 highlighted the program's significant position and far-reaching impact in global educational cooperation. The program not only promoted in-depth exchanges between China and Brazil in mathematics education but also contributed valuable Chinese wisdom to the rise of education in the Global South.
The report noted that under the frameworks of BRICS and the G20, educational cooperation between China and Brazil has grown increasingly close, particularly opening new avenues in mathematics education. The training program hosted by the UNESCO Teacher Education Centre is a concrete manifestation of this cooperation. It marks a crucial first step for China in introducing basic mathematics education to Latin America and creates a precious exchange platform for basic education teachers from both countries. During the program, the two teams overcame language barriers: Brazilian teachers successfully completed the task of teaching Shanghai students, achieving smooth communication in mathematics classes and demonstrating the enormous potential of cross-cultural cooperation. With the successful conclusion of the program, China-Brazil cooperation in mathematics education has reached a new level.
The 2024 Shanghai Training Program for Brazilian Gold Medal Mathematics Teachers, hosted by the UNESCO Teacher Education Centre, concluded successfully on September 25, 2024. Since before its opening on September 15, major mainstream media and educational institutions from both China and Brazil have maintained continuous attention and in-depth coverage of the program.
As a follow-up to the first Brazilian Mathematics Teachers' Olympiad, the training program garnered close attention from local institutions such as the Sociedade Brasileira de Matemática (Brazilian Mathematical Society) even before the visiting Brazilian teacher delegation arrived in Shanghai. From May to September 2024, the society published a series of special reports on the gold medal-winning teachers of the Brazilian Mathematics Teachers' Olympiad. These reports included individual interviews with each teacher visiting Shanghai, detailing their educational and work experiences, and capturing their expectations for the Shanghai trip before departure. Christiano Otávio, a teacher participating in the program, stated before his visit: I have high expectations for the trip to Shanghai. Chinese students consistently top PISA tests, and getting to see local education firsthand is a unique opportunity for my career development. I believe we will bring back valuable experiences, both in terms of knowledge and culture, as China's educational culture is entirely different from ours. Adapting Chinese methods to Brazil's local context will also be a challenge for us.
|
|
|
After returning to Brazil, local news media in various states also focused on the participating teachers. Diário do Pará (Para State Daily) in Pará State published an in-depth report on visiting teacher Romis Moraes on September 25, immediately after the program concluded, which was reprinted on the official website of Consed (National Council of State Education Secretaries). The full article recounted Romis' upbringing in rural areas and his emphasis on education, viewing the Shanghai visit as a crucial step toward realizing his professional ideals. In an interview, he expressed his deep impression of the four middle schools visited in Shanghai, noting that the activity designs discussed during the training had benefited him greatly. He also hoped to integrate the experiences gained in Shanghai into local teaching in Brazil, contributing to curriculum and teaching reforms in his capacity.
During the program, the UNESCO Teacher Education Centre also invited Dr. Kátia Helena Serafina Cruz Schweickardt, Deputy Minister of Brazil's Ministry of Education (MEC) and head of the Basic Education Secretariat, and Dr. Márcia Serra Ferreira, head of the Basic Education Teacher Training Department at Capes (Brazilian Federal Agency for the Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education). They participated in parts of the program from September 18 to 21. The official website of Brazil's Ministry of Education published two news reports on September 17 and 24, detailing the two officials' schedules and the strategic significance of the educational exchange activities held under the program. The reports noted that in 2023, Brazilian President Lula and President Xi Jinping expressed their willingness to strengthen scientific, technological, and educational exchanges between the two countries, with exchanges in STEM education at the basic education level being a key priority at the government level. Held at the critical juncture of the 50th anniversary of China-Brazil diplomatic relations, the program underscored its milestone significance in educational exchanges between the two countries in the new era.
|
|
|
While receiving close attention from relevant Brazilian authorities, the program also gained coverage from major mainstream media in China. Following the successful opening ceremony on September 18, Jiefang Daily's Shangguan News published a lengthy feature article, detailing the program's origins, its strategic significance for China's building of an educational powerhouse, and analyzing the Centre's new approach to cultivating global competence in STEM teachers—drawing on its previous successful Tanzanian teacher training program and the international STEM education volunteer mission to Tanzania.
|
|
|
Subsequently, the Shanghai Municipal Government excerpted the above article from Jiefang Daily's Shangguan News and published related news on its official websites in both Chinese and Portuguese.
|
|
|
Shanghai Education News Network, First Education, and Shanghai Education magazine, under the Shanghai Education Press Group, provided in-depth coverage of the program's opening around September 20 under the theme Fifty Years of China-Brazil Diplomatic Relations: Embarking on a New Era of Educational Exchanges. An article in Shanghai Education noted that the UNESCO Teacher Education Centre has actively promoted the global sharing of China's experience in educational modernization, expanded the international dissemination of Shanghai Mathematics by telling the story of Shanghai's education, and contributed to building a community with a shared future for mankind. Over the past decade, projects such as China-UK and China-Tanzania mathematics exchanges have earned a strong global reputation. Since April 2023, José António Puppim de Oliveira, a senior expert at Brazil's leading think tank Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) and initiator of the Brazilian Mathematics Teachers' Olympiad, has collaborated with the Centre to meticulously plan this training trip. The aim is to integrate the glory of the Brazilian Mathematics Teachers' Olympiad with the profound heritage of Shanghai Mathematics, elevating China-Brazil educational exchanges to a new level and ushering in the next Golden 50 Years of China-Brazil relations. The collaboration between mathematics teachers from the two countries will also contribute new wisdom and strength to global mathematics education.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Xinhua News Agency also covered the program after its conclusion, publishing video and text reports in both Chinese and Portuguese on its official website at the end of September under the title Brazilian Mathematics Teachers 'Learn from Experience' in Shanghai. The video showed the Brazilian teacher delegation observing demonstration classes at the Jiading Campus of High School Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University, with post-class interviews of teachers Cláudia Brum de Oliveira Fogliarini Filha and Roberto Cesar Cucharero Peregrina. They spoke highly of Shanghai's mathematics classes, noting that teaching methods such as the use of information technology would help improve their teaching practices in Brazil. Additionally, Roberto plans to compile his observations in Shanghai into a document to help more Brazilian teachers understand Shanghai's mathematics curriculum, teaching, and research. The video concluded with an interview by Xinhua News Agency reporters with Dr. Kátia Schweickardt of Brazil's Ministry of Education at the Yangpu-Brazil Roundtable on Education for Sustainable Development on September 20. Kátia stated that Brazil could learn from Shanghai's teacher training system to enhance local teachers' professional skills. She expressed hope to further strengthen basic education exchanges between China and Brazil, inviting Chinese teachers to visit Brazil to inspire local primary and secondary school teachers.
|
|
|
Looking ahead, the Centre will continue to advance international educational exchanges in both breadth and depth, contributing more to the development of the Global South and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
