People and organizations that participate in education: teachers, the school community, public managers, and Natura Beauty Consultants.
The Comunidade de Aprendizagem principles for the expanded education network.
Collaboration so that the public education environment is fertile and conducive to the incorporation of innovations, enabling each student to reach their full learning potential.
The program was created more than 20 years ago by Natura and fosters a virtuous circle for the improvement of education: Natura Beauty Consultants and Natura market Crer Para Ver products, and all proceeds are intended for investments in education, managed by the Natura Institute.
“We are living in times of profound changes, but the current moment can also be understood as an opportunity for advancing the agenda of structural reforms that are necessary for the country”
Networking and collaboration is part of our way of being. This is how we build our story, and this essence is gaining more and more relevance in our work. We believe that only a dialogue among all stakeholders involved in education, collective construction and co-responsibility will allow us to achieve transformative results. In 2018, we celebrated a series of initiatives that reinforce this belief and help us push forward the structural changes that can contribute to improving the quality of education.
We have integrated a network of organizations and experts that have jointly built a national education agenda, with the aim of serving as a map for Brazil in the coming years. Led by the Todos pela Educação (“All for Education”), the supra-educational initiative Educação Já! (“Education Now!”) has brought together a set of priority measures ranging from the regulation of a National Education System to changes in funding mechanisms, enhancement of the teaching career, redesign of the national literacy policy, and reorganization of Secondary Education, among others.
In almost 10 years since the opening of the Natura Institute, we have matured our systemic view, learning and developing our competency in working with public policy. We are strongly involved in the agenda of the Escola em Tempo Integral (“Full-Time School”) for Secondary Education, already consolidated in Pernambuco, Brazil, and expanding across several states, such as Ceará, Espírito Santo, Paraíba, and Sergipe. We continued to support 16 states in adopting this model in 2018.
We also deepened our understanding of the potential of the collaboration system between federal entities to meet the literacy challenge. Municipalities share common difficulties and, coordinated by the States, can account for them in a collective and articulated way. We studied in depth the success factors of the model applied in Ceará, with the Alfabetização na Idade Certa (“Literacy at the Right Age”) Program (PAIC), participated in a proposal to review the policy for the subject – one of the seven priorities of Educação Já! – and partnered with the Lemann Foundation to support a few states in implementing a collaboration system with their municipalities, starting in 2019. Initiatives like these are based on concrete evidence and results gathered through our Knowledge Production and Evaluation area.
The Network of Natura Beauty Consultants is another major force, thanks to its capillarity and important role each of them plays in their families and communities. They engage in the cause of education, not only in the sale of the Crer Para Ver product line, but also as mothers, relatives, educators and students, enabling our cause to reach all corners of Brazil. We also sought to contribute to their human development through an education program that encourages them to resume or continue their studies and to engage in the education of their families and communities. In 2018, we reached over 80,000 of them with our education offerings.
We also celebrated the progress of education actions in other Latin American countries where Natura operates. Each country manages and implements local Crer Para Ver resources, with the support of the Natura Institute in structuring initiatives. We worked in these countries by disseminating and collaborating with the implementation of the school Comunidade de Aprendizagem (“Learning Community”) project – a support that should be strengthened in 2019 as the Crer Para Ver resources progress. Additionally, the education program for Natura Beauty Consultants will be implemented in these countries.
It should be noted that we are living in times of profound changes. And many challenges still need to be overcome. The current moment, however, can also be understood as an opportunity to advance the agenda of structural reforms needed for the country, taking advantage of the beginning of new terms in federal and state governments.
Thus, connected to a powerful network of tertiary-sector institutions and in articulation with the public authority, without which it is impossible to generate impacts in the dimension that Brazil needs, we have the chance to fulfill the dream of a quality education by everyone and for everyone.
David Saad
CEO of the Natura Institute
1. Contributing to enabling teachers of Child Education and the 1st and 2nd years of Primary Education to improve their teaching skills so that their students are literate at the right age.
2. Supporting teachers in incorporating digital tools into pedagogical practices in order to enrich and streamline them.
3. Schools in Brazil that promote the integral development of students and incorporate concepts of the learning community into their practices and favor co-responsibility in the entire school community in the definition and monitoring of learning objectives on a full-time basis to ensure their feasibility.
4. Disseminating and encouraging the development and adoption of best management practices in public education systems, considering efficiency, effectiveness, efficacy and ethics, which contribute to a qualified management.
5. Encouraging the collaboration between states and municipalities to improve literacy outcomes at the right age.
6. Contributing, through education, to the development of our network of beauty consultants, leaders, and their families.
7. Creating conditions for incorporation of the Comunidade de Aprendizagem (“Learning Community”) principles in the practices of the expanded education network.
8. Collaborating so that the public education environment is fertile and conducive to the incorporation of innovations, enabling each student to reach their full learning potential.
We want to help teachers improve their teaching skills and offer resources that support their pedagogical practice and facilitate student learning in the classroom and at the right age
The incorporation of a National Common Core (BNCC, from Portuguese Base Nacional Comum Curricular) for Children and Primary education was a major advance for public education, being an important reference on the skills required for all teachers. We are committed to taking it to the classroom in a context-based manner, helping the teacher with the use of quality didactic resources.
Thus, we wish to help educators overcome barriers and have a dynamic and successful performance inside and outside the classroom. We have a special focus on the literacy teacher, a crucial step for academic success in the future and where challenges are as big as the size of Brazil. Just over half of children – 53.7% – can read at 8 years old. Additionally, 49% of teachers do not recommend their own profession, which demonstrates the need to look more closely at the teaching career.
Books are the gateway to the world of letters! And helping educators properly explore oral language with their students and transforming the literacy process into a journey full of possibilities is the focus of the distance education course launched in 2018: Reading Out Loud by the Teacher. With videos, texts, images and supported by the practical experience of the educator in the classroom, the training has a class load of 45 hours and is in line with the parameters of the National Common Core (BNCC). In 2018, over 8,800 students graduated from the course and received a certificate issued by an institution acknowledged by the Ministry of Education.
An important part of the training offered by TRILHAS is the stage of monitoring the course’s contributions to the daily life of educators. In 2018, we received more than 1,600 videos from teachers applying in the classroom the proposals learned. All material is viewed by our specialists, and each participant received individual feedback, helping them improve their practices and develop even more. The best videos are also available to other students, so that teachers can also learn from peers in different realities.
The performance in the TRILHAS training is now also measured, so that we can deepen the understanding of teachers’ development and the contributions of the training. In the analysis conducted in 2018, we noted that almost 90% of the trainees migrated from stages 2 and 3 in the skills worked in the course to stage 5 – the highest level.
To increase the reach of TRILHAS, we once again invited Natura Beauty Consultants to take the portal to all regions of Brazil, including smaller towns and more remote locations. In 2018, we sent 711,000 leaflets promoting the project in the Natura product boxes, so that they could be disseminated in their communities. The action resulted in 6,693 new teacher registrations in TRILHAS.
We launched a beta version of the new TRILHAS portal, which has received 96% positive feedback from users. As part of this reformulation process, we also heard over 90 teachers from all over Brazil and talked to educators, pedagogy students, and specialists. Each of them tried out the portal’s new features and offered suggestions and assessments. This build should be completed by 2019, when the final version of the website will be going live.
One of the new features that starting in 2019 is the offering of e-books for children’s literary stories, for use by teachers in the classroom. The material, a result of the partnership with publishers, is curated by our specialists and expands the access of these educators to quality books. The feature will be available to teachers who take Reading Out Loud course. Access to e-books is gradual and monitors the progress of the educator throughout the training.
Launched in 2018, the TRILHAS Facebook fan page is a new dialogue channel, with over 245,000 likes. As a fast and frequent means of communicating with teachers, the page disseminates tips for practice at school and encourages exchanges among educators themselves, as well as being an important channel for accessing the portal’s news.
In order to remain close to the literacy teachers, we also participated in the Book Biennial in São Paulo and the meeting of the Mais Alfabetização (“More Literacy”) program, promoted by the Ministry of Education. On both occasions, we promoted face-to-face training for teachers on the use of TRILHAS, to encourage reading and writing.
Follow us: www.facebook.com/PortalTrilhas
211,000 users registered in TRILHAS as of 2018
890 kits distributed to teachers
The Escola Digital (“Digital School”) portal underwent a redesign to gain more agility, allow greater collaboration, and facilitate the use of its features. New features were incorporated such as the search filter for Digital Learning Objects (ODAs from Portuguese Objetos Digitais de Aprendizagem), according to the abilities classified in the National Common Core (BNCC) – 5,000 resources were aligned to the Core. Escola Digital’s total collection encompasses 28,700 resources, categorized by grade, subject and content, in an easy way and free of charge, to increase teachers’ access to diversified pedagogical materials.
We networked with 20 state departments of education that build together the strategies of implementation of Digital School and collaborate with a shared collection of digital learning objects. The 2018 elections renewed some of the state governments and their education teams. Given this context, we supported secretariats in the drafting of transition memorials, facilitating the change process and enabling the continuity of the initiatives. For the new teams, we will be directing our efforts in 2019 to approach and maintain the partnerships, in addition to seeking to expand collaborations with other states that have not yet joined the project.
Escola Digital’s learning resource bank is developed by the curators, i.e., technical professionals from the state education secretariats, who help select and define the content to be added to the platform. In 2018, we promoted a training to increase the number of curators, thereby generating greater participation and knowledge exchange for teachers. 135 professionals were trained (in a class load of 60 hours), who have curated 1,000 resources for the website.
In 2018, we gave more than 1,500 40-hour online courses. The training can be accessed in the mobile version, favoring participation and knowledge exchange. In total, 1,294 teachers and 240 managers completed the course.
We believe in a school that is open to the community, democratic and inclusive
Already evidenced in several states, the ETI model (from Portuguese “Escola em Tempo Integral”, or “Full-Time School”) model is efficient in increasing learning outcomes, as well as reducing school dropout rates. In the last two years, we have investigated the success factors of the Pernambuco model, the costs of universalizing ETI provision, and challenges related to pedagogical issues, financing, teacher training, infrastructure, and interest among young people. All this knowledge aims at expending the model, serving as a guide to facilitate the journey of policy implementation. In 2018, we supported 16 states in implementing full-time Higher Education – for 2019, that number will reach 19.
Another addition is the creation of Comunidades de Aprendizagem (“CAs” or “Learning Communities”), a school model that improves coexistence between students and their environment, which opens up to families and the school community and promotes equity and social cohesion as principles.
These are the premises of our work in the school pillar, in which we work on three fronts, always in collaboration with the education secretariats and technical partners: expansion of full-time schools, formation of Comunidades de Aprendizagem and, in a sum of forces, implementation of the two proposals in the school.
www.institutonatura.org.br/escola-de-tempo-integral
We supported 16 states that implemented full-time schools in 2018 – a figure expected to increase to 19 in 2019. We work with technical partners, supporting training, monitoring, planning, and financial management. Particularly in Pernambuco, Ceará and São Paulo, the partnership considers knowledge production, financial management planning, and cost studies for implementation and expansion. Among the advances, 2019 began with roughly 51% of public schools operating on a full-time basis in Pernambuco, 42% in Ceará, 38% in Paraíba, 25% in Sergipe, 16% in Rio Grande do Norte, and 13% in Goiás.
1 Considering all public schools that have adopted the full-time scheme, funded by the states or the MEC.
In 2018, the Ministry of Education (MEC) expanded its resources for the implementation of the ETI model in public Secondary Schools, in the context of the Dinheiro Direto na Escola (“Money Directly in School”) Program (PDDE). The October 2018 ordinance defined resources to expand the number of schools that adopt the model, at R$2,000 per student enrolled /year. This has been the third gateway in recent years launched by MEC to foster full-time schooling in the states. Among other criteria, schools were defined considering their socioeconomic level, in order to meet those in a more challenging situation.
The Natura Institute (iN) conducts and supports studies to monitor the effectiveness of the ETI policy, gathering evidence of positive effects on the student’s overall development. One of them has been the analysis of the program’s results in Pernambuco, which now has more than half of its public Secondary Schools operating on a full-time basis, with at least one in each municipality of the State. Learn more about the main highlights of the Pernambuco initiative:
Pernambuco’s experience was also listed as one of the 100 public policies that have worked in the world in a study conducted by the Center for Public Impact, funded by the Boston Consulting Group. The analysis was based on the foundations that a public policy needs to work as an engagement of the public involved, political commitment, clear objectives, evidence, feasibility, and measurement.
Our vision of the school is structured around students’ full development. We want a successful education for all children and young people, with efficiency, equity, and social cohesion. To get there, we support the public authority and schools in their process of transformation into Comunidade de Aprendizagem (CA). In the last two years, we have worked especially in states where full-time schools are already consolidated as a public policy. Our work consists of bringing to schools a set of practices that broaden and diversify the interactions and spaces of dialogue in the school, bringing together the entire school community and improving the coexistence among all parties involved. We also worked in partnership with ICE (Education Co-Responsibility Institute) in the states of Espírito Santo, Acre, and Maranhão. We finished 2018 with 328 schools in this model, more than twice of the previous year.
In Pernambuco and Ceará, we have the major challenge of working in a scaled approach – in Ceará, the ETI proposal is already founded with the practices of learning community inserted in its program. In Pernambuco, in 2018 alone, 135 schools began to adopt Learning Community practices in their daily activities. A major driver of this expansion is the training and certification of professionals who will be carrying out this process in the state education secretariats and in schools. They conduct a 180-hour course on CA practices with certification from acknowledged partner institutions: NIASE (Nucleus for Research and Social and Educational Action) of the Federal University of São Carlos and CREA (Special Center for Research in Theories and Practices for Overcoming Inequalities), University of Barcelona.
www.comunidadedeaprendizagem.com
We believe in the Comunidade de Aprendizagem (CA) model to reduce inequalities in school and improve students’ academic outcomes, encouraging them to be implemented in all schools, regardless of the teaching stage (Early Childhood, Primary, and Secondary). In 2018, we continued our efforts to strengthen continuing education and monitoring of schools that are already advanced in the adoption of CA principles. Our intention is to clarify the results of this model and the potential that it can generate, enabling these schools to serve as an inspiration for others. We counted 98 schools that have already been transformed, 13 of which are considered benchmarks in this activity, offering successful education to children and young students.
Simultaneously, we invest in training professionals to lead this transformation in schools. In four years, 150 people received Comunidade de Aprendizagem certification in Brazil – 82% of them remain in the public network fomenting the change of principles and activities in schools. This work gave rise to a network of CA trainers, who enjoy our training tools, including the distance education portal, and who may have a more autonomous attitude in the implementation of pedagogical practices provided in the Comunidade de Aprendizagem model.
We have made major progress in the other Latin American countries where Natura is active. In Argentina, more than 5,000 schools incorporated CA practices into their programs, 450,000 books were delivered, and 3,000 professionals were trained in the proposal. In Colombia, one of the leading schools has gained nationwide prominence for their innovative practices in school coexistence. As of October, 3,268 users had completed the distance education course in Mexico. In Peru, we systematized the four success stories, organized the country’s first National Forum, and with the Full School Day, delivered materials to 713 schools and face-to-face training for representatives from 117 schools.
We believe in doing together and in co-responsibility as an effective way to quickly achieve educational results
The National Literacy Assessment (ANA, from Portuguese “Avaliação Nacional de Alfabetização”) indicates that half of Brazilian children are not able to read, write and count as of the age of seven, proving that Brazil has not yet solved the problem of literacy.
Collaboration between states and municipalities is a good management practice to generate quality education in an equitable way. We believe that this cooperative partnership between the state network and municipal networks can accelerate literacy learning outcomes and increase managers’ ability to overcome regional challenges. Inspired by successful experiences and related to other organizations in the tertiary sector of education, we wish to promote this agenda and foster a public policy that focuses on literacy through the Collaboration Scheme.
According to ANA*, seven-year-olds enrolled in the public network have insufficient levels of:
*2016 results.
We noted that the results generated by Programa Alfabetização na Idade Certa (PAIC, or “Literacy at the Right Age Program”) in Ceará can be achieved in other states. Thus, we systematized the experience based on 6 success factors. This work was based on partnerships with the governments of Espírito Santo and Amapá in order to build their models of collaboration with municipalities, with an emphasis on literacy.
In the state of Espírito Santo, 2018 was the first year for execution of the plan built in the previous year. The program was institutionalized with the design of the main initiatives, such as the model of continuing teacher training and the quarterly student performance evaluations. The state also launched scholarship and award programs to encourage pedagogical advancement in municipalities. In the first year of implementation of the project, it was already possible to note that about 50.7% of the children in the first year of Primary School reached alphabetical and spelling levels – previously, this index was approximately 21%.
In Amapá, the policy of collaboration with municipalities is in the planning phase, with the definition of process governance, roles and responsibilities of each entity, and setting of goals.
Starting in 2019, this initiative will be expanded to new states through the Programa de Alfabetização via Regime de Colaboração (PARC, or “Collaborative Regime Literacy Program”), created in partnership with iN and the Lemann Foundation. The aim is to enable a leap in the number of students literate in Portuguese and mathematics at the right age, through the support of state education secretariats, in an initiative that includes students of the last year of Early Childhood Education and the first two years of Primary School. Collaboration policies should act based on identified success factors, such as evaluation and monitoring; incentives for cooperation; strengthening of learning; engagement through dialogue; and participatory governance, among others. The program will begin in 2019 in five states.
By joining forces with our partners, gathered in the Colabora Educação (Education Collaboration) Movement, we drafted a bill with the aim of encouraging the organization of a National Education System. We also supported the development of a guide for implementing the collaboration scheme, focusing on learning and based on the knowledge we have already gathered on the subject. The guide will be released in 2019.
Launched in 2013 to help municipalities meet the daily challenges of education management, Conviva celebrated its fifth anniversary in 2018 with a presence in 86% of the country’s municipalities. More than a platform, Conviva has become a management tool for the municipal education secretariats, proven by its figures as an important force for municipalities.
Education is a call to do it together! One of the keys to the project’ consistency is the way it was constituted, based on a network of organizations and active participation of public managers: Managed by iN, the initiative belongs to UNDIME (National Union of Municipal Education Directors) and has the support of 13 partner institutions. In 2018, two new partners joined in this effort to improve education management: Humanize and Votorantim Institute.
Tools that facilitate the manager’s planning are synonymous of savings for the administration. To understand how Conviva has helped municipal education management, we conducted a study involving an online survey with more than 50 respondent municipalities and onsite visits to four municipal secretariats. More than half of the participants stated that the use of Conviva’s school transportation management tools has made routes faster, safer, and more economical. Two of the four municipalities visited by the researchers showed evidence of financial savings, which could reach R$260,000 per year. The four municipalities also noted an improvement in the management of school transportation following the reorganization of the service. Greater control over registration information, management of vehicle maintenance, shorter routes and less use of drivers’ overtime were some of the highlights of the evaluation.
The year; s target for active municipalities was achieved with access to Conviva by more than 2,000 secretariats, at least once a month, in eight different months. Over 1,2000 made intensive use of the platform (so-called heavy users), which correspond to about 21% of the municipalities in Brazil. In relation to the distance education courses, there were 313 graduates in the topics of School Food Management and Budget and Financial Management.
Conviva was given a new feature in 2018, involving the importing of microdata from the School Census. With it, managers have the official data from the federal government available, in a more user-friendly format, to perform their job with more quality and accuracy. To get an idea of the impact of this initiative, the 1,230 municipalities that imported the data from Educacenso to Conviva included over 6.5 million students and 400,000 professionals on the platform, facilitating and improving school management.
To help the secretariats achieve even more results using the platform, Conviva Educação has expanded its network of state articulators. They are responsible for providing direct support while guiding and conducting training for managers. In 2018, this network conducted face-to-face training for 2,474 municipalities, in all the states of the country, involving 12,831 participants.
We produced a new course in Budget and Financial Management. Additionally, eight of Conviva’s ten content areas have been fully revised, with two new subjects developed: inclusive education and collaboration. The space for news and videos has been reinforced to expand the dissemination of useful content for managers. It should also be noted that we reported record monthly views of videoconferences, with the participation of the Federal Government and UNDIME – the videos surpassed 88,000 hits in the year.
In the beginning of 2018, for the first time, we conducted the Municipal Education Management Diagnosis, which had more than 1,075 respondent municipalities. The main goal was to support the municipal secretariats in carrying out a self-assessment of their actions, verifying their strengths and the processes that can be improved, based on what a municipality should do, under the law, in relation to public education in Brazil. For each participating municipality, a customized return was sent, with suggestions to improve management according to its level of performance. In order to improve the instrument, in 2018, we counted on an assessment consultancy to adapt the collection instrument and the contents addressed, based on a conceptual and practical reference matrix, validated by UNDIME. From now on, the diagnosis will be applied annually, as a means of evaluating the evolution of the quality of educational management in Brazilian municipalities and how much the Conviva contributes to this transformation.
www.institutonatura.org.br/iniciativa/rede-de-apoio-a-educacao/
The support to the municipal education secretariats of Benevides (PA) and Cajamar (SP), where Natura maintains its operations, aims to develop best practices in management and thus contribute to the quality of education in these municipalities.
With its IDEB ranking evaluated at 6.2 points in the initial years and 5.1 in the final years of Primary School, Benevides (PA) ranks 1st in the state of Pará – six years ago, the municipality ranked 41st in the state. The gradual and systematic advancement of teaching in Benevides is the result of a process of adjustments and adaptations in the educational model, which included the implementation of the Portuguese Language and Mathematics curricula, monitoring of learning through diagnostic evaluations and assertive pedagogical interventions guided by learning challenges specific to each school, class and student, teacher training, school reinforcement, and involvement of the entire community. These are actions that iN has been following and is proud to support technically and financially since 2012.
Source: QEDU and Inep (Anísio Teixeira National Institute of Studies and Educational Research).
From 2013 to 2018, the Municipal Education Secretariat undertook the Benevides à Escola (“Benevides in School”) program, which focuses on pedagogical management, including reform and construction of new units, exclusive buildings for early childhood education, and reorganization of the network. Consequently, students are learning more, in a more egalitarian manner. IDEB’s analysis shows that, besides the growth in the general index, it was possible to reduce the gap between those who perform better and those who perform poorly, favoring equity in education. The program was also a finalist of the 1st SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Award, held in 2018, in the government category, against 1,038 registered initiatives.
To ensure that this learning is not lost and continues to be improved and generating results for the municipality, the iN has deepened the understanding of the impact of the actions of the Municipal Education Secretariat, systematizing the experience developed over these six years in a document that could serve as an inspiration for other municipalities.
The focus on pedagogical management was also the guiding principle for actions in Cajamar (SP) in 2018. With the support of the RAE, the municipality implemented a diagnostic evaluation and training of primary school teachers in Portuguese and Mathematics. The articulation from the RAE demonstrated its relevance within a context of successive political changes in the management of education in the city, contributing to the continuity of the work focus. Some of the actions carried out by the RAE include the strengthening of the Municipal Education Council of Cajamar and specialized technical consulting in the administrative area.
The RAE conducted an evaluation of external learning – the first one on this scale to be performed in the city, comprising more than 10,500 students. The Municipal Board of Education classified the process as a priority and used it as an instrument for educational planning and pedagogical monitoring.
Based on the results of the research, the RAE supported the planning of pedagogical interventions, which yielded 23 Portuguese Language and Mathematics workshops, with the participation of 40 pedagogical advisors from the schools and the technical team of the Municipal Board of Education of Cajamar. With visits to the pedagogic meetings and observations in the classroom, the applied training totaled 92 hours.
The provision of administrative coaching and specialized technical assistance assisted in the management transition scenario in Cajamar and allowed for the correction of administrative procedures – including measures to enable the transfer of federal funds. In addition, the RAE assisted the Municipal Education Council, based on 18 training meetings, in the physical organization and cataloging of all documents. Eight meetings were also held with Council members, as well as two visits to schools, and the opening of the Municipal Education Conference.
Launched in 2014 in different regions of Brazil, the initiative established partnerships with groups of municipalities within the same territory, supporting collaborative public management to address regional challenges. RAE Polos assisted in the implementation of successful practices in two consortia in the southern region of Bahia and in an education development arrangement in the Northwestern São Paulo region. In total, 86 municipalities were involved in the actions, which included a diagnosis of the region, prioritization of actions, and institutionalization of working groups. Starting in 2019, the Natura Institute will no longer have a direct presence in these forums, becoming a supporter through the action of the Collaborative Consortiums Network and ADEs led by the Itaú Social Foundation.
After supporting the formation of Technical Chambers of Education in two consortia of municipalities in southern Bahia, the iN fostered the joint actions of these federated entities and supported the implementation of priority actions. This enabled a dialogue between managers in the same region to identify joint solutions for education. All actions took place in partnership with the Arapyaú Institute and included institutionalization of the technical chambers so that they could establish partnerships with different strategic stakeholders and even make joint purchases and apportionment of expenses, as well as training for the technical teams of education, local diagnosis, regional plans, and prioritization of actions.
In 2018, the technical chambers were integrated into the consortium network supported by the Itaú Social Foundation, in which they were able to continue to be connected and active in the discussions on joint solutions for the improvement of educational indices.
With the 57 municipalities that make up the Education Development Arrangement of Northwestern São Paulo, we also supported the preparation of a local diagnosis and prioritization of the subjects in the establishment of a regional action plan. Thus, we understand that they are articulated to continue with the implementation of the measures defined as priorities for the region.
Natura Beauty Consultants are important allies in the iN’s actions, either in the sale of Crer Para Ver items or in the key role they play in the education of their families and the community where they live
We maintained a partnership with Natura and offered a set of educational experiences for consultants and their families. The entire work is based on the results of the IDH-CN – an indicator used by Natura to monitor the human development of its consultants through a diagnosis of their health, education, and citizenship conditions.
In 2018, we reached the major milestone of 80,000 consultants benefiting from the education offerings, including scholarships, free courses and discounts offered for: undergraduate and graduate programs, languages, technical courses, among other opportunities. The benefits can be used either by the Natura Beauty Consultant or by Business Leaders (a segmentation of the consultants in Natura’s relationship model), as well as by a family member indicated by the consultant.
“I am very grateful to be part of Crer Para Ver and encouraging Natura Consultants to believe in themselves. And today I can say: “I have a college degree!”
Check out the full testimony of Lanila Mendes, from Uberlândia (MG), and one of the first consultants to complete an undergraduate school from Estácio University
The range of offers is in line with this growth trend, and three new courses were made available throughout the year: Eu e Meu Projeto de Vida (“Me and My Life Project”), which seeks to awaken and support the consultants’ personal development plans in order to encourage them to accomplish their dreams; Ser Criativo (“Being Creative”), aimed at demystifying creativity and thus demonstrating that this trait can be developed by everyone; and Mathematics (see below).
Among the new courses offered, special attention was given to math skills. In partnership with Khan Academy, the new training path was structured into three modules: basic math, decimal numbers, and advanced math. The training is based on the consultant’s daily activities through practical exercises, in order to contribute to their daily lives and their personal development.
+6,400 books of 11 titles, distributed free of charge to the consultants in the Reading Club
Natura joined the Natura Institute to further expand actions with a positive social impact for the network of consultants. With that, in addition to actions aimed at education, we will be strengthening the training on citizenship. The subject was already part of the actions aimed at Natura Beauty Consultants, but is now gaining new momentum. Issues such as women’s rights will be part of the repertoire offered starting in 2019.
Education actions will also be strengthened, being now divided into four axes: proficiency in Portuguese and mathematics; education for digital inclusion; financial education; and formal education.
In partnership with Ação Educativa, we measured the Functional Literacy Indicator (INAF – Indicador de Alfabetismo Funcional) in a group of more than 400 Natura Business Leaders (one of the segmentations of the consulting activity). The goal is to obtain a diagnosis of the group’s skills in writing, reading and math in an even deeper analysis than the IDH-NC. We will expand the study to the network of Natura Beauty Consultants in 2019, and its result will strengthen our education offerings.
Functional illiteracy is a challenge to be faced in Brazil, where three out of ten Brazilians (29%), according to Inaf 2018, have difficulty in understanding and expressing themselves through letters and numbers even in everyday situations, such as identifying information on a vaccination poster. This is a reality that has not been evolving in the last decade, with stagnant indicators.
We wish to establish an articulated and powerful network and a true culture of co-responsibility for education in and out of school
The union of stakeholders who participate in education, debating and valuing differences, is capable of generating positive effects on student learning and improving the environment in which they live. Thus, we promote the dissemination of the Comunidade de Aprendizagem (“Learning Community”) principles in a broad way, in and out of school.
In 2017, we decided to face the challenge of moving beyond the classroom and fostering the culture of co-responsibility for learning in an entire city. This was the beginning of the pilot project in Tremembé (SP), so that we could learn more about the benefits and reach of CA practices. It did not take long for compelling results to emerge.
All municipal schools in Tremembé have been operating as Comunidade de Aprendizagem since 2013. With the pilot, other spaces of the city served as a stage for activities that involved the community in favor of education, such as the square, which became the center of the action, with a reading corner, a community garden, sports activities, and various events involving other municipal secretariats and local organizations. A joint committee, including several community representatives, is responsible for the management and curation of the local activities. In 2018, we offered technical assistance to the Full-Time Education Referral Center so that the Municipal Education Secretariat could prepare a full-time education policy, articulating schools, territory and community in all actions developed in and out of school.
In 2018, Tremembé was awarded the Votorantim Education Partnership, by the Votorantim Institute, as a municipality with the best social mobilization for education – an acknowledgment of the engagement that is taking place in the city.
Making the public education environment fertile and conducive to the incorporation of innovations
We worked alongside the Center for Innovation in Brazilian Education (CIEB – Centro de Inovação para a Educação Brasileira) in search of tools and guidelines that help managers and teachers adopt the best resources in order to enable each student to reach their full learning potential. We offered support for states and municipalities to incorporate the use of educational technologies in a structured manner, with a methodology to identify priorities and create effective plans that are appropriate to each need.
This free online tool assists teaching networks and incorporates the subjects of technology and computing in their curricular proposals of Early Childhood and Primary Education. Launched in 2018, its content is in line with the National Common Core (BNCC). In the first months of operation, over 1,000 downloads were reported in the platform. Three webinars also helped introduce the features of this new tool.
In turn, the Training Itinerary, developed in partnership with the Ministry of Education (MEC), is intended for Secondary School. This material aims to help networks and schools incorporate the subject of the digital culture into their curriculum contents. In line with the BNCC, the Digital Culture Training Itinerary has a total class load of 400 hours and presents curricular units that can be applied and adapted according to the needs of each institution.
In 2018, the CIEB, in partnership with the Natura Institute and Escola Digital Network, updated its Digital Teacher Competency Matrix and developed descriptors, organized in levels of progression, for the 12 competencies of the Matrix. It served as the foundation for the development of the Digital Teacher Competency Self-Assessment, a free online tool that allows teachers to carry out an individual reflection on their knowledge and uses of digital technologies in order learn more about themselves. At the end of the self-assessment, a report is offered with the educators’ profile and encouraging them to be protagonists of their own professional development.
Another free online feature launched last year was the Evidence Platform. This feature uses an easy language for managers and teachers and aims to enable them to know the results of surveys carried out on the use of technology in the classroom. Revisions on the use of technology for literacy and math teaching are available, among other topics.
Given the many possibilities of technological means and educational resources currently available, how can the manager choose the ones that best fits their needs and perform an acquisition? To answer this question, another service provided by CIEB is a platform with information for selection and acquisition of educational technologies. Its offering ranges from the support to analysis of the manager’s innovation vision, through a presentation of the available technologies and guidelines for identification of the technology demand associated with the pedagogical needs of the network, to instructions on the best modes and acquisition processes, among others features.
In 2018, the CIEB was invited to join the Advisory Committee of the Connected Education Innovation Program of the Ministry of Education (MEC). The invitation is a result of the technical support offered to MEC in the design and implementation of this Program. Within the scope of this Program, the CIEB formalized a cooperation agreement with the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) aiming at technical support in the implementation of the “BNDES Public Call: Connected Education – Implementation and Use of Digital Technologies in Education.” Among other invitations received, the CIEB joined the Advisory Committee for Digital Transformation of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications (MCTIC) and the Evidence-Based Digital Education Network for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Whether the goal is to base the actions developed, evaluate projects and initiatives, or analyze trends, the Knowledge Production and Evaluation area of the Natura Institute has been consolidating itself as an important foundation to guide our strategic decisions. Additionally, it plays an important role in fostering the culture of knowledge in the iN, with dissemination of information and promotion of meetings with specialists, with a concern to stimulate the exchange of knowledge.
Always in search of evidence, the research, studies and evaluation processes generate knowledge and measurement components that are the foundation for the different subjects, such as two of the flagships of the iN: Full-Time Schools and Collaboration Regime, among others.
Some of the most recent studies (available in Portuguese):
Economia por uso de ferramenta do Conviva Educação (“Conviva Educação tool-based economics”)
Mapeamento de práticas de Comunidade de Aprendizagem (“Mapping of Learning Community practices”)
Revisão Bibliográfica sobre Escolas em Tempo Integral (“Bibliographic review of Full-Time Schools”)
A política de Educação em Tempo Integral no Estado brasileiro de Pernambuco (“The Full-Time Education Policy in the Brazilian State of Pernambuco”)
Análise SAEB – Ensino em Tempo Integral em Pernambuco (“SAEB Analysis – Full-Time Teaching in Pernambuco”)
Distribuição da parte discricionária da cota-parte do ICMS (“Distribution of the discretionary part of the ICMS quota”)
Análise de custos do Programa de Alfabetização na Idade Certa (PAIC) (“Cost Analysis of the Alfabetização na Idade Certa Program”)
Sistematização do Legado Benevides: avaliação de aprendizagem (“Benevides Legacy systematization: learning assessment”)
Learn more about these and other publications at www.institutonatura.org.br/producao-de-conhecimento
We count on the dedication and talent of a multidisciplinary team that is engaged in the construction of a transformative education. Our employees have not only technical competency, but also the relational qualities to articulate and mobilize professionals and organizations for an essentially collective performance. It is the sum of effort that boosts results.
To support them, a group of Natura leaders and members of foundations and partner institutes are committed to the strategic guidance of the Natura Institute and to the transparency of investments through the Board of Directors and the Audit Committee.
Lastly, an Advisory Committee brings together renowned education specialists from across Brazil, who offer us their valuable contribution, based on knowledge and experience, in the search for the improvement of Brazilian educational indicators.
CEO
David Saad
Board of Directors
President
Pedro Villares
Board Members
Antonio Luiz da Cunha Seabra
Guilherme Peirão Leal
Pedro Luiz Barreiros Passos
João Paulo Ferreira
Denis Mizne
Ricardo Henriques
Advisory Committee
Ana Amélia Inoue
Ana Lucia Lima
Claudia Costin
Cleuza Rodrigues Repulho
Igor Lima
Lucia Dellagnelo
Paula Louzano
Audit Committee
President
Lucilene Prado
Board Members
Jorge Manoel
Lavínia Junqueira
We all learn
We all teach
We are all responsible
We are grateful for our valuable network of partners, which unites efforts and enables the best results and a performance as great as Brazil. They are private institutes and foundations, public education managers, teachers, students, Natura Beauty Consultants and a diverse and competent group in the pursuit of the same goal of achieving quality public education.
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Natura Institute
Photos
Marcos Suguio
Thamires César
Carlos Della Rocca
Lucas Landau
Fabiana Shiroma
Instituto Natura Archive
Editorial coordination and graphic & Web design
rpt.sustentabilidade
www.reportsustentabilidade.com.br
Translation
Arabera Traduções Técnicas
