In Brazil’s Maranhão state, which ranks second-to-last nationally in educational performance, a UK-Brazil collaboration will redesign English language teaching for adults who missed school during childhood. The project targets the Youth and Adult Education (EJA) programme in São Bernardo, where high dropout rates, a shortage of qualified teachers, and poor rural infrastructure have left marginalised groups—including indigenous communities—with little motivation to learn English. The core problem is that students often cannot see how a foreign language matters to lives disrupted by poverty and inequality. The team will pilot a teaching approach called “life capital,” which asks teachers to build lessons around students’ own life stories rather than standard textbooks. By treating students’ experiences of hardship as strengths—resilience, for example—the method aims to restore self-confidence and engagement. If successful, the pilot could reshape local education policy, with guidance from the state Secretary of Education, and give teachers a practical tool to keep adults in the classroom. The results will be shared through knowledge-exchange events in Brazil and the UK to inform a larger-scale study.
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This collaboration will address issues of educational inequalities and marginalisation in São Bernardo, a municipality in the state of Maranhão, Brazil. Specifically, our goal is to improve the Youth and Adult Education (EJA) programme, an educational modality within the Brazilian system designed to offer opportunities to individuals who lacked access to, or were unable to complete, their studies during the conventional schooling age. Maranhão ranks second to last among Brazil's 26 states in educational performance (Maranhão, online). The principal challenges of this programme include: a) high dropout rates driven by economic pressures, b) quality of education hampered by a shortage of qualified teachers, and c) inadequate infrastructure, especially in rural regions (Reis; Sousa, 2015). These obstacles significantly impair the educational experiences of marginalized groups (e.g., indigenous communities). English language education becomes even more critical in circumstances such as these where students may lack the vision to see the benefits of learning a foreign language, ultimately affecting their motivation and engagement. The overarching objective of this project is to facilitate collaborations between the UK and Brazil academics and relevant stakeholders to enhance the quality of English language education for students enrolled in the EJA programme. Specifically, we propose the following aims: (i) to understand the expectations of local stakeholders regarding improvements to the EJA programme; (ii) to conduct a document analysis of local policies underpinning this educational programme; (iii) to design pedagogical activities inspired by the concept of life capital, a framework which fosters a focus on students' life stories; (iv) to pilot such activities through a small-scale pedagogical intervention (pilot study); and (v) to organize knowledge exchange events in Brazil and the UK to promote a multi-tiered dialogue based on this educational intervention with the aim of gathering feedback for a larger-scale study. To achieve the above aims, we will implement the concept of life capital, developed by the UK project leader (Consoli, 2021; 2022), as a pedagogical tool to promote a contextually-sensitive approach to language teaching, ultimately aiming to increase student motivation and engagement. Life capital is a theoretical construct which encourages educators to recognise and incorporate students' life stories in their teaching practice, thereby maximising learning opportunities and restoring a sense of self-confidence and value in their own education. This approach is especially pertinent in São Bernardo where students' lives are often disrupted by social inequalities. Therefore, this life capital driven pedagogy will empower individuals by inviting them to see their unique life experiences less as inhibiting but more as strengths to support and facilitate their education. The anticipated benefits and outcomes of this project include the revision of local policies supporting the EJA programme, with guidance from the state Secretary of Education, who will serve as a consultant throughout the project. Additionally, the direct involvement of local English language teachers will facilitate the integration of life capital as a pedagogical tool in their language classes. Consequently, students will shape their learning experiences around their unique life narratives, enabling them to recognise the positive aspects of their life trajectories (e.g., resilience) and ultimately (re)gain motivation in learning English in a manner that is both cognitively and emotionally fulfilling. The results of this pilot project will be shared with teachers, student-teachers, and teacher educators in Brazil and the UK through knowledge-exchange events organized at the two researchers' respective institutions.
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