Nova Escola

Nova Escola's course site is a free catalog of online professional development courses for teachers and school managers. The home page invites visitors to learn from more than 130 courses on a range of themes and adds, in its own words, "Tudo gratuito!" (all of it free). Every course carries a Nova Escola certificate, and the site's recurring promise is that the courses are written by teachers and built around classroom practice rather than theory.

This is a learner product in the teacher development sense. A teacher or a school leader picks a course, works through it online and receives a certificate from Nova Escola. There is no course builder for outside creators and no business plan for schools to buy; the catalog is the product, and all of it is in Portuguese.

What the catalog covers

The headline on the course pages reads "Cursos elaborados por professores e com foco na prática!" (courses developed by teachers and focused on practice). A section of recommendations from the Nova Escola team shows what that looks like in practice. Each recommended course is labeled a "Curso Avulso" (a standalone course), shows its length in hours and the word "Grátis" (free), and names the educators who made it:

• IA, ética e meio ambiente: desafios e soluções para professores da rede pública (AI, ethics and the environment, challenges and solutions for public school teachers), 30 hours, by Gracieli Dall Ostro Persich and Roberta Freitas.
• Inteligência Artificial para professores (artificial intelligence for teachers), 10 hours, by Elisiane Spencer Goethel and Roberta Freitas.
• Tecnologia e competências digitais na educação (technology and digital competencies in education), 30 hours, by Cicero Inacio dos Santos and Roberta Duarte da Silva.
• Adolescências: da neurociência à sala de aula (adolescence, from neuroscience to the classroom), 4 hours, by Danila Di Pietro, Elânia Lima, Guilherme Nogueira, Katia Stocco Smole and Roberta Freitas.
• Estratégias para uma Educação Antirracista (strategies for anti-racist education), 10 hours, by Lavini Castro.
• Alfabetização: usando diferentes gêneros textuais e metodologia ativa (literacy with different text genres and active methodology), 30 hours, by Mara Mansani.
• Gestão de sala de aula para o Ensino Fundamental 2 (classroom management for the upper years of elementary school), 60 hours, by Harley Sato, Rodrigo Padilha and Thais Ogeda.
• Atividades de Educação Infantil: planejamentos alinhados à BNCC (early childhood activities with planning aligned to the BNCC), 10 hours, by Evandro Tortora and Tamira de Souza.

That spread runs from a short 4-hour introduction to a 60-hour course on running a classroom, so a teacher can choose between a quick refresher and a long course on one area of practice. Several of the recommended titles deal with technology and artificial intelligence in teaching, and others stay with the core of the job: literacy, behavior and classroom routines, early childhood planning and equity.

How the catalog is organized

A quick access panel splits the catalog four ways: the most relevant courses, quick courses ("Cursos rápidos"), learning paths ("Trilhas de cursos") that group several courses into a sequence, and English courses ("Cursos de inglês"). The site also sorts courses by length into quick and medium courses, and a "Ver todos os cursos" link opens the full catalog.

A list of trending subjects ("Assuntos em alta") gives the main entry points by topic:

• Defasagem de aprendizagem (learning gaps)
• Avaliação (assessment)
• Educação infantil (early childhood education)
• Alfabetização e Letramento (literacy)
• BNCC
• Jogos e brincadeiras (games and play)
• Ensino Fundamental 1 (the early years of elementary school)

Taken together with the recommended courses, the catalog leans toward the everyday concerns of classroom teachers: catching students up, assessing them, teaching reading and writing, planning for young children and using play. School managers are named as an audience on the home page, and the classroom management and technology courses are the clearest fits for that group among the titles shown.

Certificates and format

Three short promises sit side by side on the course pages: "100% dos cursos certificados pela Nova Escola" (every course certified by Nova Escola), "Conteúdo focado na prática, com exercícios e materiais" (practice-focused content, with exercises and materials) and "Sempre feito de professor para professor" (always made by teachers for teachers).

The certificate is issued by Nova Escola itself. The pages name no outside body that recognizes it, so a teacher who needs the hours for a school or network requirement should treat it as a Nova Escola certificate of completion with the course length printed on the course card. The hour figure on each course (4, 10, 30 or 60 hours in the examples above) is the number a teacher will usually want to match against such a requirement.

On format, the pages say the courses include exercises and materials and are focused on practice. Each course card has a "Comece Agora" (start now) button, and the courses run online at the learner's own pace as standalone courses or as part of a learning path.

Who writes the courses

Nova Escola presents its authors as working educators. The section headed "De educador pra educador, com experiências reais de sala de aula" (from educator to educator, with real classroom experience) names eight of them: Beatriz Ferraz, Evandro Tortora, Fernando Barnabé, Karina Rizek, Leandro Holanda, Lilian Bacich, Mara Mansani and Mazé Nóbrega. Two of those names, Mara Mansani and Evandro Tortora, also appear as authors of recommended courses above, on literacy and on early childhood planning.

What teachers say

The testimonial section quotes three teachers by name. Soemis Guzman writes that contact with Nova Escola "trouxe uma ampliação na minha perspectiva pedagógica para sala de aula através de metodologias e linguagens enriquecedoras ao cotidiano escolar" (broadened my teaching perspective for the classroom through methods and approaches that enrich everyday school life), and calls it an update that was "tão acessível" (so accessible).

Angela Motta says that taking courses, listening to talks and using Nova Escola's lesson plans and activities "só me trouxe benefício e segurança" (brought me only benefit and confidence), because she knows she is supported by an up-to-date and competent team.

Cíntia de Paula writes that "A Nova Escola faz parte da minha formação profissional" (Nova Escola is part of my professional development), through its courses, lesson plans, ideas and articles, and that taking part in its co-creation process makes her believe she is not alone. Those testimonials point to a wider Nova Escola offer beyond the course site, including lesson plans, activities, articles and talks, with the courses as one part of it.

Cost and support from partners

There is no price anywhere on the course site. Every recommended course is marked "Grátis", and the home page states that everything is free. The site credits partners with the work: a "Quem nos apoia?" (who supports us) section introduces "os parceiros que nos ajudam a fortalecer professoras e professores das escolas públicas diariamente" (the partners who help us strengthen public school teachers every day). That line, along with the public school framing of the AI and ethics course, shows that public school teachers are the main audience, though the courses are open to any teacher or school manager who signs up.

Who it suits

Nova Escola suits Portuguese-speaking teachers and school managers who want free, certified, practice-focused courses and can choose their own pace. It fits a literacy teacher looking for a long course on text genres and active methods, an early childhood teacher planning activities against the BNCC, a middle school teacher who wants 60 hours on classroom management, and a teacher who wants a short, practical introduction to artificial intelligence in the classroom. A school leader can point a whole staff at the same course at no cost.

It suits less well a teacher who does not read Portuguese, since the catalog and its pages are in Portuguese apart from the separate English course section. It is also a weaker fit for anyone who needs a credential issued by a university or recognized by a named body, because the certificate shown is Nova Escola's own. A school or company looking for a platform to publish its own courses should look elsewhere: this is a catalog of Nova Escola courses, not a tool for building and selling courses.