Two teachers from the municipal education network left this Wednesday 24, for Canada, as scholarship recipients of the Professional Development Program for Basic Education Teachers. Cláudia Silveira Martins, professor of psychology at Emeb Emílio Meyer, and Kátia Bomfiglio Espíndola, professor at the Integration and Resource Room (SIR/AEE) at Emef Martim Aranha, were selected as part of a group of 102 teachers public schools across Brazil who will have this qualifying opportunity.

The program is the result of a cooperation agreement between the Coordination for the development of higher education personnel (Capes) and the Colleges and Institutes of Canada (Cican), representing Canadian public schools and institutes.

During the course, which will last eight weeks, the teachers will be divided into two groups and will attend different colleges. Cláudia and Kátia will be connected to Niagara College, located in the city of Welland, in the province of Ontario.

With a workload of 218 hours, the training will cover the teaching of English as a second language, the Canadian education system, student-centered approaches, the inclusive classroom, classroom management and educational technology. In addition to deepening their knowledge in these areas, teachers will have the opportunity to improve the projects they have presented during the selection process.

“It is an honor to be able to count on two such qualified professors, who, thanks to their merits, have won scholarships to Canada. After the two months of immersion, they will be able to share the experiences acquired with our schools, so that we can offer an ever-growing, more qualified, updated and inclusive education”, commented the Municipal Secretary of Education, Sônia Rosa.

The project, prepared by Professor Cláudia Martins, entitled Socio-emotional learning from the perspective of mental health promotion, is aimed at youth and adult classes. Its objective is to include knowledge and self-knowledge about emotions, feelings and thoughts as an academic and curricular issue, promoting affective development and addressing topics relevant to individual and collective mental health.

“We want to seek new knowledge, but we also want to share the good experiences we have had in our schools in Porto Alegre,” said teacher Cláudia Martins.

Professor Kátia has developed a pedagogical intervention project aimed at qualifying a continuous teacher training course focused on school inclusion. Entitled Universal Design of Learning and the Social Model of Disability: Politics and Poetics to Transform Planning in an Inclusive School, this course seeks to collaborate in the development of pedagogical practices that embrace human diversity, being designed as an educational product for the course Master in Network Inclusive Education.

“The expectations are very high. The studies that we will carry out in Canada will help us to improve even more the specialized education in our territory”, reflected the teacher Kátia Espíndola.

All travel costs will be funded by the federal government.