Chico Anysio State High School

Rio de Janeiro State Government and Ayrton Senna Institute

This secondary level school develops socio-emotional abilities and implements projects to make learning interesting and relevant to the real life situations of the students.

This secondary level school develops socio-emotional abilities and implements projects to make learning interesting and relevant to the real life situations of the students.

Country: Brazil
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Problem: The experimental project implemented in the school in 2013, which involved a partnership between the Rio de Janeiro State Education Department and the Ayrton Senna Institute, sought to combat common problems associated with secondary level education, such as students’ gradual loss of interest in their studies, the difficulty of linking the subjects with real life experiences and the job market, the lack of dialogue between students, teachers, school staff and the community, and consequently, truancy. The main difference this project has made is the implementation of integral education at secondary level, with the development of socio-emotional abilities among students.  




Solutions: As well as secondary level subjects, part of the students’ routine in the Chico Anysio State High School is focused on developing traits such as collaboration, curiosity, persistence and responsibility. There are four periods during the week: guided study; life project; self-management; intervention project and research. 

  During the guided study period, a school educator helps the students to learn how to study. This teacher, who can be a teacher of any subject, instructs the students how to search for relevant information and how to synthesize it. During the life project, teachers meet with small groups to discuss academic or personal concerns and to help establish greater goals. The student performs an investigation about themselves and their colleagues, family, school and community. During the self-management period, the students are free to do what they want, such as participate in artistic or physical activities, attend workshops or study for their tests. In the intervention project and research period, all of the school’s students are mixed. They form groups, outside their own class or year, which will spend the entire school year developing a project related to real-life experiences. The group will focus on a subject of common interest, propose ideas to solve a problem, and then plan and execute the project. Their project is assessed and they receive a result.

The curriculum contains seminars on the market, business and sports. The first group contained 70 students in 2013. In 2014, there were 110 students and in 2015, there are 96.


Cris Torres Seeduc RJ

Outcomes: The school started to listen to students. Teachers began to feel more challenged and more enthusiastic about their work and the students feel more confident and more interested in their studies. They start to like and respect the school. They even develop the ability to exercise citizenship and they start to understand the significance of studying in their lives. The proposal was extended to five more schools of the state network in 2014 and another eight in 2015.