Seven out of every ten graduates cannot meet basic standards
No coração do sistema educacional brasileiro, uma avaliação federal revelou em 2025 que sete em cada dez professores formados a distância em português e matemática não alcançam sequer o nível básico de competência exigido pelo Ministério da Educação. A distância entre o que se promete e o que se entrega na formação docente online não é apenas estatística — é o intervalo entre o futuro que milhões de crianças merecem e aquele que efetivamente receberão. Enquanto o governo Lula negocia o fim gradual desses cursos, o setor privado resiste, e a sala de aula espera.
- Sete em cada dez formandos a distância em português e matemática não atingem o nível mínimo de proficiência, expondo uma falha estrutural no maior segmento da formação docente do país.
- A urgência é amplificada pelo alcance: mais de 194 mil pessoas concluíram licenciaturas EAD em 2025, sendo 91% em instituições privadas — um volume que supera o total de formandos presenciais.
- A disparidade com o ensino presencial é brutal: 73% dos licenciados presenciais em português e 53% em matemática superam o básico, contra apenas 33% nos cursos a distância nas mesmas áreas.
- O governo federal anunciou o fim progressivo das licenciaturas EAD, mas as novas regras ainda estão em negociação, com o setor privado pressionando para manter o maior percentual possível de aulas online.
- O Conselho Nacional de Educação debate a carga horária presencial mínima obrigatória, e o resultado dessa disputa determinará se a próxima geração de professores brasileiros chegará às salas de aula melhor ou igualmente despreparada.
O sistema federal de avaliação docente divulgou na quarta-feira os resultados do Enade para Formação de Professores de 2025, e o diagnóstico é severo: apenas 33% dos licenciados a distância em português e matemática — as duas disciplinas centrais da educação básica brasileira — alcançaram desempenho acima do básico. Nos cursos presenciais, esse índice chega a 73% em português e 53% em matemática. Considerando todas as licenciaturas, 47% dos formandos EAD superaram o nível básico, contra 74% dos presenciais.
A relevância do dado vai além dos números. Português e matemática concentram a maior carga horária da educação básica e são os eixos centrais do Ideb, principal termômetro da qualidade escolar no país. Professores mal preparados nessas áreas comprometem não apenas turmas isoladas, mas sistemas escolares inteiros.
O EAD domina o setor privado de formação docente: dos 194,4 mil formandos online em 2025, 176,7 mil — 91% — vieram de instituições privadas. O volume é expressivo, mas a qualidade não acompanha a escala. Entre os 16 campos avaliados, apenas os cursos de música tiveram desempenho pior no formato a distância, embora com número muito menor de estudantes. Alguns cursos EAD se destacam positivamente — ciências sociais atingiu 84% acima do básico e ciências biológicas, 67% —, mas português e matemática permanecem os pontos críticos de falha.
O ministro Leonardo Barchini reconheceu que regulação isolada não basta e que o ministério precisa conduzir ativamente a melhora. O governo já anunciou a extinção progressiva das licenciaturas a distância, mas as novas diretrizes ainda estão sendo debatidas no Conselho Nacional de Educação, com o setor privado resistindo à ampliação da carga presencial obrigatória. Enquanto essa negociação não se resolve, o padrão atual persiste — e com ele, a distância entre a formação que os futuros professores recebem e aquela que os alunos brasileiros precisam.
Brazil's federal teacher evaluation system released its 2025 results on Wednesday, and the findings paint a stark picture of failure in the nation's distance learning teacher programs. Seven out of every ten graduates from online education courses in Portuguese and mathematics—the two subjects most critical to basic schooling—did not meet even minimal competency standards. Only 33 percent of those who completed distance learning degrees in these fields scored above what the Education Ministry considers basic proficiency. By contrast, in traditional classroom-based programs, 73 percent of Portuguese graduates and 53 percent of mathematics graduates cleared that same threshold.
The disparity matters because these are not marginal subjects. Portuguese and mathematics form the backbone of Brazil's primary and secondary education. Schools dedicate more instructional hours to them than any other discipline. The nation's major educational assessments—including the Basic Education Development Index, which tracks school quality across the country—concentrate almost entirely on how students perform in these two areas. When teachers in these fields lack basic competency, the consequences ripple through entire school systems.
The evaluation, called Enade for Teacher Education, was launched in 2024 by the Lula administration as a way to systematically track the quality of teacher preparation across Brazil. Unlike the standard Enade exam, which typically assesses each field once every three years, this version runs annually. The results cover 116,982 test-takers across all distance learning programs and 79,077 in traditional programs. Across all teacher education fields, 47 percent of distance learning graduates performed above basic standards, compared to 74 percent of those trained in person.
The weakness of distance learning is most acute in the fields where it is most prevalent. Of the 194,400 people who completed distance learning teacher degrees last year, 176,700—roughly 91 percent—studied at private institutions. Distance learning has become the private sector's primary bet in teacher education. The numbers are staggering: more students now graduate from online teacher programs than from in-person ones, yet their preparation is substantially weaker. Among the 16 major teacher education fields evaluated, only music programs performed worse than Portuguese and mathematics in the distance learning category, though music programs enroll far fewer students.
Education Minister Leonardo Barchini framed the results as a diagnostic tool for improving public policy. He noted that the government is already working to strengthen distance learning teacher preparation, though he acknowledged that regulation alone is insufficient—the ministry must actively drive improvement. The annual testing structure allows year-to-year comparison, making it possible to track whether proficiency is actually rising or falling in each field. Some distance learning programs do perform well: social sciences programs in the online format achieved 84 percent above-basic performance, and biological sciences reached 67 percent. But mathematics and Portuguese remain the critical failure points.
Pedagogy, the country's largest teacher education program by enrollment, also shows troubling results. In distance learning, only 46 percent of graduates met basic standards; in person, 75 percent did. The Lula government has already announced plans to phase out distance learning teacher programs entirely, but the new rules have not yet taken effect. The National Education Council is currently debating minimum in-person hour requirements under the new federal guidelines, and the private sector is pushing back hard, lobbying for a higher percentage of classes to remain online. That negotiation will determine whether the next cohort of Brazilian teachers receives better preparation or whether the current pattern continues.
When measured by individual program performance, a few distance learning courses stand out: the Portuguese program at Unisinos in Rio Grande do Sul, a community-based institution, showed the strongest results among online teacher education programs meeting minimum enrollment thresholds. But among in-person programs, 111 teacher education courses—the vast majority at public universities—had every single graduate perform above basic standards. The best-performing public programs, in fields like biology at the Federal University of Minas Gerais and pedagogy and geography at the University of São Paulo, represent a different universe of teacher preparation entirely. The contrast is not subtle. It is the difference between systematic excellence and systemic inadequacy.
Notable Quotes
The results show a faithful portrait to improve Brazil's public policies, but regulation alone is not enough—the Education Ministry must actively drive improvement— Education Minister Leonardo Barchini
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does it matter so much that these specific subjects—Portuguese and math—are the ones failing in distance learning?
Because they're not electives. They're the foundation. Every other subject builds on them, and the government measures school quality almost entirely through how students perform in these two areas. A weak math teacher affects every student in that classroom for an entire year.
But 47 percent of distance learning graduates do pass the basic standard. That's not zero. Why frame it as such a crisis?
Because 47 percent passing means 53 percent failing. In person, it's 74 percent passing. If you're a student in a public school in a poor neighborhood, the odds that your math teacher was trained online and didn't meet basic standards are much higher than if you're in a wealthy area. The inequality compounds.
The government says it's going to shut down these programs. So why are we still talking about them?
Because the rules haven't taken effect yet. The private sector is fighting it. They're lobbying to keep a high percentage of classes online because it's cheaper to run. That negotiation is happening right now, and the outcome isn't decided.
What does a distance learning teacher education program actually look like? How is it different from sitting in a classroom?
The source doesn't detail that. But the results suggest that whatever's happening online isn't working for these subjects. You can't learn to teach mathematics or language the same way you learn to code or take a business course. There's something about the craft of teaching that requires presence.
Who bears the cost of this failure?
Students. Millions of them. They're sitting in classrooms with teachers who didn't meet basic proficiency standards. That's not the teacher's fault necessarily—they went through a broken system. But the student doesn't care about the system. They just know their teacher can't explain fractions clearly.
Is there any good news in these numbers?
Yes. Some distance learning programs work. Social sciences online hit 84 percent above basic. And public universities, almost without exception, produce teachers who meet standards. The problem is concentrated in private distance learning. That's actually fixable. You don't need to reinvent teacher education. You need to enforce standards and stop letting profit margins determine how teachers are trained.