October 15th: Teachers report on ‘post-pandemic’ education

Gabriel Abreu – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – “Being a teacher is about the ability to remake yourself, because it is necessary, many times, unlearn to be able to teach”, defined the Portuguese Language teacher Renata Targino that works in the Amazon for more than 10 years in the profession, that in the last two years needed to reinvent itself because of the pandemic of the new coronavirus. This Saturday, 15th, the “World Teachers’ Day” is celebrated; the date was created by Unesco, on October 5, 1966.

In more than 56 years of commemoration, the teacher faced in 2020 and 2021, a different scenario, social isolation was necessary to prevent the spread of the disease that was mirrored in closed places. It was from this moment on that professionals left the classroom to teach through the TV screen or the cell phone. In 2022, after two challenging years, teachers and students returned to the traditional place of learning.

“The remote teaching, adopted during the pandemic period, was a necessary measure for us to deal with the progress of the activities within the context we were living. I believe it was challenging for both students and teachers, who had to reinvent their way of learning and teaching, as well as exercise new skills and overcome the difficulties inherent in this teaching method”, said Targino.

Post-pandemic education

A survey by the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV) points out that in 2019, the rate of children out of school was 1.39%. In 2020, this number jumped to 5.5%. The big worsening was observed in students from five to nine years old, a group in which educational indicators had been improving for the past 40 years. It is this data that shows the current challenges of education in Brazil.

“Post-pandemic education also presents several challenges, such as learning deficits, psychological sequels and disorders related to the mental health of students and professionals, social aspects, among other various problems arising from the consequences of the pandemic period experienced by all”, said the professor.

If it was a challenge in elementary and high school, imagine the training of future professionals in higher education. Education suffered an impact in terms of the molds established until then.

“Everybody was taken by surprise with the pandemic. Obviously it was very bad, we will only feel the effects on learning next year, when the research starts, but I’m a teacher and I can already see it, I’m already feeling that this year the students are having more difficulty in paying attention in class”, explained Professor Liege Albuquerque, who has been teaching for more than five years.

Liege also lists that the school indexes really start to pick up the impact of the pandemic on education next year. “So, I think that this generation was very damaged, from children and teenagers to higher education with young adults, and I believe that we will measure this better next year, but it was not good even for us teachers”, said Liege.

Reinvent

To those who want to pursue the teaching profession, Renata Targino left a message for all teachers.

“I would say that, despite all the structural difficulties in Brazilian education, few professions can be as rewarding and honorable as that of a teacher. I would also say that being a teacher is about the ability to remake yourself, because it is often necessary to unlearn in order to be able to teach. I believe that our main role is to teach to fly outside the wing, as Manoel de Barros would say. To be a wing and not a cage, as Rubem Alves would say. “Hope” is necessary and only education can change the course of our country’s history”, highlighted the teacher.