Partnership with Agopa invests in the training of public school teachers

The partnership aims to invest in the continued training of teachers at the Ageu Paim Hoffman Municipal School, in the rural area of ​​Cristalina (GO), on the outskirts of the Federal District. Executive president of Instituto Total, Cleineilton de Araújo Borges explains that this is the second year of the project, which began in 2017 with a partnership between the Institute and the Association of Producers of the Pamplona Valley (Aprovale), in Cristalina. Through the use of best teaching practices, teachers were trained and encouraged, which began to generate results inside and outside the school.

In one year of work, the training and motivation of teachers made students more interested and participative in classes, reversed the school dropout rate and attracted students from other schools and municipalities. The result went beyond the classroom walls and reached the students' families, more encouraged by their children's education, and Aprovale's producers, increasingly involved with the project. Executing Partner of the Institute, Josebene de Moura Filho points out data proves: there was a 15% increase in the number of students; 17% reduction in absences; and an average of 90.5% of students with blue grades. There was also a 50% improvement in the working environment and a 25% improvement in student behavior, according to data from the ISP 2018 Report.

For the president of Agopa, Carlos Alberto Moresco, this partnership between Aprovale and Instituto Total already had two cotton producers, when Agopa decided to invest in the school, as the children of several farm employees study there. For him, Instituto Total showed seriousness in carrying out these good practices, studied in England and the United States, which show that teacher training has resulted in student development. “The investment in teachers had results in students, who in the future will be able to work in agriculture, or in any other sectors of the economy. Agopa falls into this spectrum, as 30% of the cotton planted in Goiás is in our region. The hope is that we can expand this experience to other cities,” he says.

Moresco highlights that, in the municipality of Cristalina, the municipal Department of Education is satisfied with the result of the project and will replicate the initiative to all schools in the municipal network. “We are providing resources and encouraging the improvement of public education. Agopa recognizes its role as a social actor and seeks, through initiatives such as the partnership with Instituto Total, to contribute to the formation of a fairer society”, he comments.

The Institute

Instituto Total seeks private investments to invest in sustainability projects that meet at least three of four biases: social, economic, environmental or cultural. The work in Cristalina proposes to last three years, within a format known as “Apto”. During this period, we work on redefining the process of continuous professional development through monthly meetings with managers, teachers and school staff for a year. Objectification and anchoring is another focus, which consists of classifying and reorganizing the APTO methodology in the chosen school through private consultancy with managers, teachers and school staff for a year. Another aspect is empowerment: the revitalization of the school's political pedagogical proposal for the autonomy of internal processes and the constant search for new meanings through shared management.