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Who we are

our story

<h2>Who we are<h2>

Aprender is the Portuguese verb ‘To Learn’. It’s what we’re all about – to learn from each other, for the benefit of the teaching profession and for the good of the thousands of young people we have the honour and opportunity to nurture and know. Aprender is a family of people involved in the development of education. We are an NGO devoted to sharing best practice and work in partnership with local, regional, State and National Government in education strategy and organisation.

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Why we're here

The need we see

<h2>Why we\'re here<h2>

Brazil is an amazing country. Pelé, Robinho, Kaká, Rio’s Copacabana beach, Bossa Nova, the mighty River Amazon, pink dolphins, anacondas, macaws and surrounding rainforest. Brazilians are warm, Creative, disarmingly informal and totally family-centric. Brazilian Portuguese is lilting and soft and has been described as sounding like ‘Sean Connery speaking Italian’. Visit Brazil and you will always want to return.

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What we do

learning together

Aprender provides three main services.
These are:

Grass Roots - working with local schools.

Mentorship - working with head teachers.

Consultancy - working with government.

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The Aprender Blog

From the frontline

Crossing the Atlantic

Crossing the Atlantic

Our link school in Goiania, Brazil is really going places. Having spent the last two summers with the staff there, helping, encouraging and, most importantly, listening to both teachers and students, we are seeing a transformation in the look and feel of the school. We’ll be able to show some photos on a later blog. The key development this week has been an email I received from Marcelo, our man on the ground. He needs a teacher training programme to begin with the staff that are part of the, what they call ‘Thematic classes’.
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Contact with Youth Sport Trust

Contact with Youth Sport Trust

Our Director of Sport at school recently attended a Youth Sport Trust event at the Emirates stadium, London. One of the outcomes was news that YST are branching out into Brazil. Aprender has emailed them to see if there can be some synergy – particularly excited about it as our pilot school in Goiania has recently worked really hard to clear the scrubland to make some space for PE. It would be great to help them in this area.

Visioneering

Visioneering

3 hour meeting today regarding future use of ICT in education. What is our vision? What affects our vision – our dreams? Does everyone visioneer in the same way, with the same framework? Probably not. What happens when a team of people are visioneering and most are not really visioneers? Its’ not a criticism but an observation. Some people simply don’t ‘get’ vision. It’s not their bag.
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Technological Solutions

Technological Solutions

Just how much will information technology play a part in the acceleration of progress in education in Brazil? If you you-tube brazilian education you’ll see a whole range of postings talking about the ‘laptops for kids’ initiative. Large, multi-national electronics and computing companies are doing a lot to support this great government scheme. To help young people connect into the resources that the internet can offer can certainly help advance their studies – and why not!? But ICT is not the utopian solution that some are suggesting.

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Educational News

the world of education

Academies could cause coalition rift

Education Secretary Michael Gove has insisted there is no rush for schools in England to become academies, after facing criticism over the number of schools coming forward. The issue threatens to cause a rift in the coalition, as Michael Crick reports.

Gove defends academy schools list

The Education Secretary insists there no is rush for schools in England to become academies, after criticism over the number of schools coming forward.

Bad trip

Are family holidays worth all the hassle?

Maths fears over A-level reforms

Plans to reform A-levels could put students off maths and lead to university department closures, an academic body warns.

Sex education teacher guilty of under-age sex

A sex education teacher is found guilty of having an unlawful relationship with a 15-year-old female pupil in Worcestershire.

Landmark ruling on divorce money

A "ground-breaking" Court of Appeal judgement removes the protection previously given to thousands of people in divorce proceedings.

‘Mocking’ toddler killers jailed

A couple who murdered a three-year-old boy in their care, inflicting more than 70 injuries on him, are jailed for life.

150 schools ask to be academies

More than 150 top schools in England have applied to become academies, government documents show.

Rise in parental child abductions

A growing number of children in Britain are being abducted by a parent and taken overseas, the Foreign Office says.

Childless stigma

Happily married, don't want kids - why is that so odd?