Abstract:

Brazil has increased its spending on education from 2005 over the average level of OECD member countries. The country has oriented its efforts towards provision of education for the majority of the population but has done less to improve the quality of basic education. Inequality in education is observed in the access of families to a good quality education for their children. This means that families with more resources have the opportunity to send their children to higher quality schools, whereas families with less resources only have access to low quality schools. This inequality in education leads to a strong differentiation between children from rich and poor families. In addition, for the poorer families, problems such as urban settlement, violence, lack of infrastructure, and others are present in their daily life. Marginalization of the poorest neighborhoods takes form in the under-recognition of their schools since these are considered as schools of “favelas”. This presentation aims to show the results of a research project conducted in boroughs with marginalized conditions in Brazil. Hereby, special attention was given to the identification of new forms of organization in communities, schools and, non-governmental organizations. These organizations introduce ideas of democracy and community participation in their regions by designing, implementing, and testing new models of education in Brazil. These new forms of organization transform not only their immediate context but they also introduce an innovation-culture creating a subsystem which may improve their local education system.

Keywords:

Education, Innovation, Inequality.