Reports given to Ana Cláudia de Souza
Member and researcher of the CpE Network
Our story begins with profound concerns about traditional teaching models, often marked by the fragmentation of knowledge, the centrality of the teacher as a transmitter, and little connection with the reality of the students.
The methodology we have developed can be understood as an alternative under construction, which seeks to break with curricular rigidity and propose a living, flexible, and contextualized curriculum.
Another fundamental aspect concerns the role of the educator. At the School of Dreams, everyone is an educator: administrators, teachers, support staff, and cafeteria workers.
Our theoretical frameworks are not adopted uncritically, but rather reinterpreted considering our reality.
Reports given to Ana Cláudia de Souza
Member and researcher of the CpE Network
JUNE/JULY 2026 | n.º 7 | Beyond teaching, a school in Bananeiras (State of Paraíba) proposes itself as a living organism of learning, listening and reinvention of pedagogical practices
PHOTO: SERGIO MELO
Located in the municipality of Bananeiras, in Paraíba, the School of Dreams is a space of resistance and hope. Its founder, Professor Leila Rocha Sarmento Coelho, explains: it means resistance to models that disregard the diversity, identity, and complexity of individuals; and hope in the possibility of building a more meaningful, equitable, and transformative education.
The report prepared by Leila together with the group of people who make up the school shows that it is not a finished model, but an experience in permanent construction, in which nothing is predetermined. From the curriculum to the evaluation, teacher training, and relationship with families, the professor reinforces, everything is built in the process, in the encounter, in listening, and in action. Check it out below.
Leila Rocha Sarmento Coelho
Founder of the School of Dreams
Text written in partnership with the school community
Throughout our journey at the Escola dos Sonhos (School of Dreams), we have collectively and intentionally built an educational experience that stems from the territory, relationships, and ethical commitment to a more humane and transformative education. Situated in a context that connects rural and urban communities, our school emerges in the municipality of Bananeiras, Paraíba, not only as a teaching space, but as a living organism of learning, listening, and constant reinvention of pedagogical practices.
Our story begins with profound concerns about traditional teaching models, often marked by the fragmentation of knowledge, the centrality of the teacher as a transmitter, with little connection with the reality of the students. It was in this scenario that we set out to dream—and more than that, to build—a school that embraced the wholeness of the individual, respecting their time, their potential, and their uniqueness. Thus, the School of Dreams was born as a community initiative built with families, educators, children, and young people, from a perspective of shared responsibility.
Our story begins with profound concerns about traditional teaching models, often marked by the fragmentation of knowledge, the centrality of the teacher as a transmitter, and little connection with the reality of the students.
Inspired by the principles of popular education and the contributions of Paulo Freire and Carlos Rodrigues Brandão, among others, our proposal understands education as a practice of freedom, in which subjects are not passive recipients, but protagonists of the learning process. In this sense, we organize our pedagogical work based on research projects that emerge from the curiosities of the students, dialogue circles, art-educational workshops, and inter- and transdisciplinary experiences that stem from real problems and student interests.
One of the aspects that most differentiates us from traditional schools is the absence of grade levels. We do not organize students by years or rigid age groups, but we promote integration between different ages through learning projects. This coexistence expands the possibilities for exchange, strengthens cooperation, and respects different rhythms and trajectories, breaking with the homogeneous and linear logic of conventional schooling.
Living Curriculum and Active Listening
The methodology we have developed can be understood as an alternative under construction, which seeks to break with curricular rigidity and propose a living, flexible, and contextualized curriculum. We work with the idea of educational territories, recognizing that learning is not limited to the classroom, but expands to the community, to nature, and to the relationships established in daily life.
The methodology we have developed can be understood as an alternative under construction, which seeks to break with curricular rigidity and propose a living, flexible, and contextualized curriculum.
From this perspective, the curriculum is not predetermined: it is built in the encounter between subjects, knowledge, and experiences, articulating curiosities, actions in the territory, values, art, culture, and references such as the Sustainable Development Goals proposed by the UN.
Art and culture constitute the structuring pillars of our pedagogical proposal, understood not as accessory elements, but as essential dimensions of human formation and the affirmation of territories. By recognizing and valuing local cultural expressions—popular knowledge, traditions, artistic languages, and symbolic manifestations of the communities with which we work—we contribute to strengthening the identities and sense of belonging of the students. Another central element of our practice is active listening. We believe that a truly democratic school is built upon the effective participation of all individuals. In this sense, we structure spaces such as assemblies, committees, and discussion circles, in which children and young people have a voice and participate in decisions that impact daily school life, developing autonomy, responsibility, and critical thinking.
Assessment, in our school, also departs from traditional models. We do not work with tests or grades, but with a diagnostic, participatory, emancipatory, dialogical, processual, and reflective assessment. For us, assessing means following trajectories, understanding processes, recognizing progress, and identifying challenges, strengthening students’ autonomy and their awareness of their own learning—in line with a Freirean perspective on education.
Another fundamental aspect concerns the role of the educator. At the School of Dreams, everyone is an educator: administrators, teachers, support staff, and cafeteria workers. We understand that human development occurs in the multiple relationships of daily life, and not only in formal teaching moments. This understanding broadens the concept of education and breaks with the idea that knowledge is centralized in a single figure.
Another fundamental aspect concerns the role of the educator. At the School of Dreams, everyone is an educator: administrators, teachers, support staff, and cafeteria workers.
Similarly, we do not organize ourselves based on the logic of the traditional classroom. There is no teacher who “teaches” while the students listen passively. What is established is a dialogical relationship, in which everyone teaches and learns simultaneously. Knowledge is not transmitted as something ready-made, but collectively constructed through investigation, experience, dialogue, and problematization of reality, as proposed by Paulo Freire.
Alliance Charter with Families
The relationship with families is another pillar of our proposal. As a community school, we understand that education is a shared process. Therefore, we have built mechanisms such as the alliance charter, in which we establish mutual ethical commitments, and we promote formative meetings and collective experiences that strengthen the bonds between school and community, consolidating a support network committed to the integral development of students.
Regarding inclusion, we are committed to building a school that embraces diversity in all its dimensions. We recognize the challenges of this process, especially in contexts of limited resources, but we seek, collaboratively, to create strategies that guarantee the participation and learning of all, reaffirming the community character of our proposal.
From a formative point of view, we invest in the continuous development of educators, understanding that the transformation of education happens collectively, through the articulation between educators, students, families, and the community. In this process, the educator does not occupy a centralizing position, but acts as a mediator, researcher, and collaborator in the construction of more democratic, sensitive, and meaningful educational experiences.
We hold study meetings, collective planning sessions, and action-research practices, through which we critically reflect on our experiences, strengthen student protagonism, and expand the bonds of co-responsibility with families and other subjects that make up school life. Thus, we recognize the school as a living space of shared learning, in permanent construction.
Our theoretical frameworks are not adopted uncritically, but rather reinterpreted considering our reality. In this movement, we approach what Paulo Freire calls the “viable unprecedented”: the collective construction of possible paths, anchored in a critical reading of the context and a commitment to social transformation. Thus, our proposal is not guided by ready-made models, but by the continuous creation of practices that make sense for the subjects and their territories.
Our theoretical frameworks are not adopted uncritically, but rather reinterpreted considering our reality.
By sharing our experience, we seek to contribute to the strengthening of other possibilities in education. We continue, therefore, dreaming and achieving, certain that the school we want is built every day, collectively, through dialogue, and with the courage to do things differently.
