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Education in Brazil: On Overview of Music and Arts Teaching:

Sérgio Luiz Ferreira de Figueiredo
Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina, Brazil

In 1996, Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional (LDB) (Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education) regulated Brazilian education covering different levels, age groups, and disciplines in funding, teacher education, professional development, etc. The LDB covers basic and tertiary education. In Brazil, basic education refers to including early childhood education, fundamental education and mid-level education. Fundamental education is divided into two four-year periods: First and final years (see Table 1).

Table 1: Students’ Ages and Types of Teachers in Brazil’s Basic Education

School Level: Early childhood education
Students’ Age: 0-6
Types of Teacher: Generalist

School Level: First years of fundamental education
Students’ Age: 7-10 (Grades 1-4)
Types of Teacher: Generalist

School Level: Final years of fundamental education
Students’ Age: 11-14 (Grades 5-8)
Types of Teacher: Specialist

School Level: Mid-level education
Students’ Age: 15-17 (Grades 9-11)
Types of Teacher: Specialist

According to the LDB, "Fundamental education, with its minimum duration of eight years, is compulsory and free in public schools, its objective being a basic preparation for the citizen" (Brasil, 1996, Article 32). Teachers teaching at different levels of basic education are prepared in courses related to activities developed in schools. For early childhood and the first years of fundamental education, generalists are responsible for all activities in schools, with some exceptional systems that hire specialists in areas including Physical Education, Foreign Language and the Arts. For the final years of fundamental education and mid-level education, students are taught by specialists in different subject areas. They include Portuguese Language, Mathematics, Physical and Natural World, Social and Political Reality, Arts Teaching, Physical Education, Brazilian History, Foreign Language (Foreign Language is only offered for students aged 11 or above) (Brasil, 1996, Art. 26).

There are a number of curricular documents published for all levels of Brazilian Education. The Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais (National Curricular Parameters) (PCN) were for the first years (Brasil, 1997a) and final years (Brasil, 1997b) of fundamental education. There is a separate set of documents for early childhood education, and another for mid-level education, published in 1998 and 1999 respectively. All curricular documents are not mandatory, but rather produced as guiding references for teachers in states and cities to follow. There are also documents written for professional education, indigenous education and education for adolescents and adults.

The Arts Teaching

Music in the Brazilian education belongs to one of the key learning areas, called Artes (Arts). Dance, drama, music and visual arts are the four art subjects that are taught at different levels of education in Brazil. The notion of teaching the four art subjects separately is a relatively new innovation for arts teaching in Brazil. The LDB started a range of new orientations and directions via the distribution of documents, meetings and discussions among the professionals in education and the arts. The LDB states that “arts teaching will be a compulsory curricular component in all years of basic education, with the aim of promoting students’ cultural development.” (Brasil, 1996, article 26). Before the publication of the LDB, the practice of Educação Artística (Arts Education) comprised Geometric Drawing, Music, Plastic Arts, and Drama (named Scenic Arts in the Brazilian context at that time). All these areas were supposed to be taught by one teacher who had to have multiple abilities in different art areas and be able to teach in an integrative approach (called “polivalência” in Portuguese). Tourinho (1993) comments that “polivalência has established a false integration in the teaching of the arts” (p. 110), and Hentschke and Oliveira (2000) raise the concern that there is a “confusion between a true integration and polivalência” (p. 50). Comments on this approach of arts teaching have appeared in various articles (Figueiredo, 1999, 2000, 2002b, 2003; Hentshcke, 1993; Hentschke and Oliveira, 1999; Oliveira, 2000a, 2000b; etc.).

The practice of teaching the arts as a single subject and that a teacher is supposed to teach all the arts area still continues in many Brazilian educational suystems, although the LDB has been published since 1996. This notion of the arts as an homogenous group and that the preparation of a teacher in one of the arts can “automatically” be able to teach all the arts has been a misconception about arts teaching. At the early childhood level, for instance, many schools understand the necessity of all arts in the curriculum but many teachers are prepared only for one of the arts. Another example can be found at the undergraduate level. Many universities understand the necessity of arts preparation as a whole, but in general only one art subject is offered to prepare teachers who have to approach all arts areas (Figueiredo, 2003).

The PCN presents a specific volume on the teaching of the Arts. Accordingly (Bellochio, 2000), the arts are teachable areas of knowledge. This teachability is quite different from the idea expressed in the past, which states that the arts as a subject are only superficial and supplementary activities. In this sense, the new documents could be considered to be more positive because they replace the old notion which has promoted limited possibilities of development for the arts in the school curriculum. New possibilities arise as a result of the launching of the new documents. However, the teaching of the arts is still being applied in discrete ways according to the interests, habits, and intentions of different schools. In general, the arts continue to occupy a low level of importance, with rare exceptions, in the curriculum. Many public schools do not hire art specialists to teach specific art areas. This implies that many students are receiving incomplete and interrupted kind of arts education. The teaching quality students can receive highly depends on the availability of professionally qualified arts teachers in schools.

Music Education in Brazilian Universities

After mid-level education, students can apply to study in a university. There are two types of music programs offered in the Brazilian context: Bachelor of Music and Licensure in Music Education. The first type prepares bachelors, normally instrumentalists, singers, conductors and composers; the second prepares teachers for different levels of education. Although graduates of the first type are not specifically trained to be teachers, many of them also teach music in regular schools. However, there is a prejudice in Brazil which considers students studying music to be better than studying music education. Many people consider teaching music to be of a lower priority in their choices of profession: If someone is not able to be a good musician, he/she could be a music teacher. Even though this situation has been changing, the idea that music teachers are less competent in music that musicians is still commonly found.

Discussions on the quality of preparing music teachers at different institutions have been focussing on the search for a balanced curriculum that can prepare teachers who are equally competent as musicians and as music teachers. Following the LDB, the Brazilian Ministry of Education developed the Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais – Música (National Curricular Guidelines – Music) (DCN) which present a general orientation to guide universities to reformulate the curriculum. There are also guidelines for the preparation of music teachers in Brazilian universities (Brazil, 1999). According to the DCN, universities should offer programs to prepare for all types of musicians including composers, interpreters and music teachers with theoretical and practical knowledge. Other specific areas in music include music education, psychology of music, sociology of music and music pedagogy, etc. Following the same proposition of other new documents, these guidelines are not compulsory and universities can adapt the guidelines according to their own context.

Preparation for Generalists Teaching Music

The preparation of music teacher in the past was always related to the preparation of music specialist for the final years of fundamental education. For the first years of fundamental education, the responsibility falls on the generalists in teaching music. The LDB does not specify who is responsible to teach which level. The practice to have music specialists for the final years tends to continue, and generalists are responsible for all subjects in schools in the first years. If generalists are responsible for all areas, they should include teaching music. However, it is not common to have music activities easily developed in schools by generalists. Research (Figueiredo, 2002a, 2003) demonstrates that the preparation for generalists has been insufficient to achieve substantial improvement in music in the first years of fundamental education. Universities that prepare them offer minimal training, normally one subject with the maximum of 60 hours for all arts areas.

Past studies have demonstrated that if suitable preparation is offered, generalists are able to contribute to the musical development of their students. Authors including Barrett (1994) and Jeanneret (1996) in Australia, Russell (1996) in Canada, Mills (1995/1996) and Rolfe (2000) in England, Figueiredo (2003), Kater et al. (1998), Souza and Mello (1999), Bellochio et al. (2001) in Brazil, Gauthier and McCrary (1999) in USA, and Willberg (1997) in New Zealand, are some of those who have reported good results and possible music preparation for generalist teachers in their respective countries. The literature also recommends continuing education as a form of preparing generalists to develop music activities in schools (Bellochio et al., 2001; Felton, 1991; Hoerman, 1993; Palheiros, 1993; Russell-Bowie, 1999).

The preparation of generalists is still a topic not well developed in Brazil. Some researchers are interested in the improvement of the quality of music education offered in the Brazilian educational systems. Certainly the generalists are crucial in preparing students to have new and significant music experiences at different levels of their school years.

References

Barrett, M. (1994). Music education and the primary/early childhood teacher: A solution. British Journal of Music Education, 11(3), 197-207.

Bellochio, C. R. (2000). A educação musical nas séries iniciais do ensino fundamental: Olhando e construindo junto às práticas cotidianas do professor. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brasil.

Bellochio, C. R. et al. (2001). Educação musical, formação e ação de professores dos anos iniciais de escolarização: Um estudo em processo. In C. R. Bellochio & C. A. Esteves (Eds.), Anais do IV Encontro Regional da ABEM Sul e I Encontro do Laboratório de Ensino de Música/LEM-CE-UFSM (pp. 186-191). Santa Maria, Brasil: UFSM.

Brasil. (1996). Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional, LDB: Lei 9394/96. Brasília: Diário Oficial da União, Ano CXXXIV, n. 248, de 23/12/96, pp. 27.833-27.841.

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