Creating two separate educational tracks within one municipality
Across Brazil's vast and varied municipal landscape, a new study reveals that the work of shaping young minds is advancing unevenly — literacy taking root in three-quarters of school networks while mathematical thinking lags in barely half, and entire communities of children remain outside the reach of consistent oversight or support. Released by Itaú Social and drawing on nearly half of Brazil's municipal education networks, the report illuminates not just a pedagogical gap but a structural one: contracted schools operating in the shadows, rural and Indigenous children underserved, and the fragile passage from early childhood into formal schooling left largely to chance. It is a portrait of a nation that has begun to invest in its youngest citizens but has yet to ensure that investment reaches them equally.
- Mathematical literacy is being left behind — while 76% of municipalities teach early language skills, only 48% have comparable strategies for math, and one in five have no early math initiatives at all.
- A shadow system has emerged inside municipalities themselves, where contracted pre-schools operate without oversight and nearly a quarter of local governments cannot verify whether these partners are teaching anything at all.
- Children with disabilities and neurodivergences face compounding barriers — inaccessible buildings, scarce adapted materials, and teachers who receive inclusion training only twice a year, if at all.
- The leap from play-based early childhood learning to structured first grade remains dangerously unplanned, with 17% of networks doing no coordinated transition work and children at risk of disengaging from school entirely.
- One-third of municipalities receive no state support for early education, and only 28% can reach rural, Indigenous, and quilombola children — leaving the most vulnerable populations furthest from the progress being celebrated.
Brazil's early childhood education system is moving forward in some areas and falling behind in others, according to a major study released this week by Itaú Social in partnership with the National Union of Municipal Education Directors. Drawing on responses from 2,712 municipal networks — nearly half the country's total — the report offers a detailed and sobering portrait of uneven progress.
The clearest advance is in literacy: three-quarters of municipalities have adopted strategies for teaching language and written expression to young children. Mathematics tells a different story. Only 48% have implemented comparable approaches to mathematical literacy, and one in five municipal education departments report having no early math initiatives whatsoever. The gap reflects deeper inequalities in capacity and resources across Brazil's fragmented education landscape.
Making matters more complex, nearly a quarter of municipal governments cannot track whether their contracted pre-school partners — private or semi-private facilities hired to handle overflow demand — are using any of these teaching strategies at all. Itaú Social's Sonia Dias warns that without minimum standards and technical oversight, municipalities risk entrenching two separate educational tracks within the same city or town.
There are genuine bright spots. Sixty-two percent of networks support environmental learning, 58% offer ongoing professional development, and 56% actively work to keep children enrolled. But structural failures persist alongside these efforts. Infrastructure deficits are the top concern for nearly a quarter of education leaders, and 15% struggle to serve children with disabilities — a challenge requiring accessible buildings, adapted materials, and specialized training that strain already-thin budgets.
The transition from early childhood education to first grade remains one of the system's most fragile points. Seventeen percent of networks do no coordinated planning between these two stages, and the abrupt shift from play-based to content-heavy learning can derail children's development and breed lasting resistance to school. Teacher training on inclusion and diversity happens only twice a year in most places, and one-fifth of networks offer contracted schools little or no professional development at all.
State support is inconsistent at best: one-third of municipalities receive none. Only 28% of local education departments can implement programs for rural, Indigenous, and quilombola populations. The report's conclusion is pointed — national policy must move beyond simply opening more childcare slots and begin qualifying the spaces that already exist, or expansion will only carry inequality further.
Brazil's early childhood education system is advancing in some directions while stumbling badly in others, according to a sweeping study released this week that surveyed nearly half the country's municipal school networks. The picture that emerges is one of uneven progress: literacy and language work is thriving in classrooms across the nation, but mathematics instruction lags far behind, and the whole system is fractured by infrastructure problems, funding gaps, and a troubling lack of oversight in contracted schools.
The report, completed late last year and released Monday by Itaú Social in partnership with the National Union of Municipal Education Directors, draws on responses from 2,712 municipal education networks—roughly 49 percent of Brazil's total. The researchers found that three-quarters of municipalities have adopted strategies for teaching literacy and written language in early childhood settings. Mathematics instruction tells a different story: only 48 percent of municipalities have implemented comparable strategies for mathematical literacy. One in five municipal education departments report having no such initiatives at all for young children.
The disparity points to a deeper problem of unequal capacity and resources across Brazil's education systems. Nearly a quarter of municipal governments say they cannot even track whether their contracted pre-school partners—the private or semi-private facilities municipalities hire to handle overflow demand—are using these teaching strategies. This creates what amounts to parallel education systems operating within the same municipality, with no guarantee that a child in a contracted facility receives the same quality instruction as one in a directly managed school. Sonia Dias, development manager at Itaú Social, argues that municipal education departments must establish minimum standards and technical oversight to prevent these inequalities from calcifying. Without it, she warns, municipalities risk creating two separate educational tracks.
On the positive side, municipal networks are doing real work in other areas. Sixty-two percent support schools in connecting children with nature and the environment. Fifty-eight percent offer ongoing professional development focused on child development. Fifty-six percent actively work to ensure children can access and stay in school. Yet these efforts exist alongside serious structural failures. Infrastructure deficits top the list of challenges: 23 percent of municipal education leaders cite inadequate physical facilities as their primary concern, pointing to insufficient maintenance funding, scarce resources for materials, and the inability to expand childcare slots. Fifteen percent highlight the struggle to serve children with disabilities and neurodivergences—a challenge that demands accessible buildings, adapted materials, and trained staff, all of which strain already-thin municipal budgets.
The transition from early childhood education to first grade remains dangerously fragile. Seventeen percent of municipal networks do no coordinated planning between these two stages. Thirteen percent lack even basic transition strategies like portfolio tracking. The shift from play-based learning to content-heavy instruction can traumatize children, derail their literacy development, and breed school resistance—yet many municipalities treat it as an afterthought. Teacher training compounds these problems. While 58 percent of networks offer ongoing professional development, the quality and focus vary wildly. Topics related to inclusion and diversity are addressed only twice a year in most places, while pedagogical content gets monthly attention. One-fifth of networks offer no training at all to their contracted partner schools, or offer significantly less than they provide to their own facilities.
State governments are supposed to support municipalities in this work, but one-third receive nothing. Those that do get help cite it as mainly technical and training-focused, not financial. The gap is widest for smaller, more vulnerable municipalities that lack the resources to fill it themselves. Only 28 percent of municipal education departments can implement programs for rural, Indigenous, and quilombola populations—historically marginalized groups whose children deserve the same quality early education as anyone else. The report concludes that national policy must shift urgently from simply opening more childcare slots to actually qualifying the spaces that exist. Without that shift, expansion will only spread inequality wider.
Notable Quotes
Municipal education departments must establish minimum standards and technical oversight to prevent inequalities from calcifying within the same municipality.— Sonia Dias, Itaú Social
National policy must shift urgently from simply opening more childcare slots to actually qualifying the spaces that exist.— Report conclusion
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does mathematics instruction lag so far behind literacy work? Is it just harder to teach?
It's not that math is harder to teach young children. It's that literacy has become the cultural priority. Reading and writing feel more urgent to educators and families. Math gets treated as something that comes later. But the research shows early mathematical thinking—patterns, quantities, spatial reasoning—matters just as much for development.
The contracted schools seem like a real problem. Why do municipalities use them if they can't oversee them?
They use them because they're desperate. A municipality gets a surge in demand for childcare—more families need it, more parents working—and they can't build new public schools fast enough. Contracting is faster. But then they lose visibility. They don't know what's happening in those classrooms. It creates a two-tier system by accident.
What happens to a child who goes through a fragile transition to first grade?
The research suggests real damage. A child who had play-based learning suddenly faces desks and worksheets and sitting still. Without careful preparation, they can develop anxiety about school itself. They may fall behind in reading. Some never quite recover that confidence. It's preventable, but it requires coordination that many municipalities just don't have.
Is this a money problem or a management problem?
Both. But management might be the harder one to fix. Money helps—better buildings, more staff, adapted materials for children with disabilities. But even with money, you need someone coordinating across schools, setting standards, training teachers on what inclusion actually means. Many municipalities lack that infrastructure entirely.
What would actually change things?
State governments would have to step in with real support—not just advice, but funding and technical help. The federal government would have to enforce the standards it created. And municipalities would have to treat early childhood as urgent, not as babysitting while parents work. Right now it's treated as the cheapest rung of education. That has to flip.