2020: Flora Moura Lorenzo
University of Brasília
Contexts with high levels of inequality set strong concurrent contingencies for school attendance for children from vulnerable families. As the informal economy and early labor are used as means to address the need for immediate income, school dropout prevents around 40% of Brazilian students from finishing basic education. Hence, in the pursuit of equity, schools in Brazil could benefit from strategies that support children’s learning and academic success.
The SABA International Development Grant will assist in the development of the Nurturing Brightness Network, an online community for disseminating behavior analytic tools for classroom management based in the literature of nurturing. Application in primary schools has shown systematic improvement in pupils’ social interactions and basic academic repertoires in both the short and long term. By acquiring the ability to focus in a safe and collaborative environment, children from all socioeconomic backgrounds can find they are fully capable of learning. Many children from low-income families in Brazil have not had this experience, nor have their relatives.
The online platform will provide guidance for teachers, principals, healthcare workers, and policy makers from different educational systems across the country to connect and collaborate toward the implementation of nurturing strategies in their workplaces. Content will be available in modularized videos and texts grounded in scientific evidence, interactive forums, interviews with experts, and webinars. Participants will be encouraged to support one another while receiving technical input and feedback for their own projects. Dissemination across public schools is expected through social contagion among professionals within and between municipalities.
Flora Moura Lorenzo, doctoral candidate at the University of Brasília, conceptualized the project and will coordinate it. Professionals with backgrounds in other fields key to the promotion of nurturing schools were invited to participate. Aline Godoy Vieira, doctoral candidate at São Paulo University; Darlene Cardoso Ferreira, MSc; Débora Pereira, MSc; and Lorena Araújo, MSc, will collaborate across applied behavior analysis, emancipatory education, and collective health. The initiative is nonprofit and has no affiliation with any particular organization.
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