A former headteacher and consultant who has worked with school leaders in South America’s largest and most populous country sees a brighter future ahead

On 1 January 2023 Brazil saw the return to the presidency after 12 years of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – universally known as “Lula” – and the end of a period of turmoil in the country’s education system. His political stablemate, Dilma Rousseff, who had succeeded him as president in 2011, had launched an ambitious and generously resourced 10-year plan in 2014 to transform the nation’s dilapidated and desperately underperforming schools. A serious downturn in the Brazilian economy put the brakes on government spending and the political tensions which ensued led to her impeachment and removal from office in 2016.