O CICLO DE ALFABETIZAÇÃO: UMA ANÁLISE SOBRE OS PERÍODOS PRÉ E PÓS PANDÊMICOS

Abstract

After the experience of social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic, elementary schools in the municipality of Três Lagoas in Mato Grosso do Sul faced a systemic problem in the learning of children in the 4th and 5th grades: they were not literate. Given this educational reality faced in 2022, a need for research arises: to understand the literacy cycle of the municipality before, during and after the pandemic (2019-2023). Taking as a guide the following problem question: in what way could or could not the pandemic have harmed the literacy cycle of children in Três Lagoas. The first methodological step was a bibliographic survey, based on an integrative literature review, highlighting the uniqueness of the research in question and its contributions to the field compared to previous publications. The research is characterized as qualitative, focusing on descriptive work. The study is defined as explanatory and documentary, in which the following official documents were selected for analysis and investigation: BNCC, Curricular Guidelines of Três Lagoas, Literacy activities sent by school units during remote teaching (APCA) and the content required in large-scale tests in the Portuguese Language curricular component. In addition to document analysis, the research carried out is supported by learning indicators, found in the performance of 4th and 5th grade students in tests such as SAEB and CAED, also in the Portuguese Language curricular component. Therefore, as data collection instruments, document and statistics are used. The organization and interpretation of these data is carried out through Content Analysis, seeking to reach the proposed objectives. The results obtained demonstrate that the pandemic has indeed had an impact on the literacy of elementary school students. Furthermore, it is observed that both municipal and national curricular orientations, together with large-scale assessments, do not contribute to the literacy cycle being carried out, on the contrary, it makes teaching more rigid due to their sequential nature, structured in stages and years of learning, making it difficult to recognize and identify children who do not learn to read and write “in the right year”, as they become “statistics” that lower the numbers of school units in large-scale tests. The analysis of the APCAS reveals the difficulties experienced by schools during the pandemic. It also demonstrates and exposes that the literacy activities delivered remotely did not actually teach literacy, thus highlighting their poor design. Given the above, there is no widespread concern within the education system regarding the pandemic's impact on literacy, and the lack of public administration actions to restore learning is evident. The solution to this situation focuses solely on the hope that only the teacher’s work will resolve structural issues. This school reality is a political project and serves a market, considering that the act of reading and writing liberates individuals and provides them with a critical perspective and thinking about the reality that surrounds them.