Anyone who works with education, especially those on the front lines of classrooms and pedagogical spaces, has long known the challenges that come with the teaching profession. These include a lack of infrastructure, low salaries, little appreciation, student disinterest, and many other variables that pop up while we try to apply our methodologies and practice our desire to share knowledge.
Educational contexts are very diverse: different types of schools, CSOs, cultural institutions, variations in class sizes, and geographic, social, and political factors all directly affect the course of a class and how the dynamic between educator and student unfolds. However, regardless of the school or institution, teaching is always a challenge and requires not only resourcefulness, flexibility, and willpower, but also people around us who help us keep going and do our work.
Books like Pedagogy of Freedom (1996) by Paulo Freire, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (1994) by bell hooks, or Vence-demanda: educação e descolonização (2021) by Luiz Rufino, talk about the importance of sensitivity toward students, knowing how to contextualize them, getting closer, and building a safe, welcoming pedagogical environment that makes people want to learn, as well as want to teach. They also talk about how important it is to establish a dynamic exchange where the educator/student roles are malleable and allow us, as teachers, to also grow and stay motivated.
But, faced with all the challenges that permeate daily educational life, how do we create an environment of belonging that makes sense both for us educators and for the students?
HackerClubes Sumaré 2026 class with teacher Pamela Leite.
This is the kind of question that might come up in the teachers’ lounge while we have our coffees, at a bar table on a Friday after work, or even during a discussion in a university education class. And there is something very meaningful about these moments because it is precisely by sharing this question that we begin, almost without realizing it, to build answers to it. Through listening and exchanging with other people who share similar contexts, we learn new strategies to carry on with our work, process the challenges that come our way, and sustain our motivation. Being in a collective allows us not only to share experiences, but also to reframe events, review practices, and imagine other possibilities for teaching.
Shared Teaching in Practice
I say this not only as an observation backed by theory, but as something that runs through my own practice. I have been working in education for almost ten years and have been at Casa Hacker since 2024. Throughout this journey, my guiding principle has always been to seek an education that makes sense to those involved in it, whether students or teachers. A concrete example of this is my experience teaching alongside other female teachers in Casa Hacker’s STEAM education projects: for a year and a half, I worked alongside teacher Aliene Villaça with the female students of the Minas em Tech project, and currently, I work alongside teacher Pamela Leite in the HackerClubes class.
Both projects take place in public schools in the city of Sumaré, with classes of about twenty high school students. The classes are structured around the STEAM approach, integrating content related to science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. Among the topics developed along the way are 3D modeling and printing, programming, electronics, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality. This knowledge is worked on in an interdisciplinary way through project-based learning, a methodology in which students develop their interests and skills and, at the end of the process, collectively create their own projects.
Right from the start, we have sought to build a different classroom perspective with the students, proposing an educational space where learning happens through exchange, listening, and collective experimentation. More than just transmitting technical content, the goal is to create an environment where knowledge is built in a shared, lighthearted, and meaningful way. This dynamic is only sustained through the trust established with the students throughout the process, but we also understand that this bond is directly shaped by the partnership built between us teachers.
Teacher Aliene Villaça and her group of students assembling the final projects for the Minas em Tech 2025 class.
The Partnership Between Educators
The relationship between the educators is perceived by the students and directly influences how they occupy this space. Therefore, we strive to build a horizontal relationship among ourselves, based on dialogue, collaboration, and the recognition that no one occupies a position of greater importance or is the exclusive holder of knowledge. It is natural that, at certain moments, one might have greater technical mastery over a specific content, but this does not prevent planning from being collective, nor does it stop the facilitation of the class from being shared. Likewise, students are encouraged to relate to both of us, bringing doubts, observations, and contributions without any centralization of speech or knowledge.
The planning of our meetings also stems from this exercise in collaboration. Meetings, content development, and activity organization are defined through agreements made between us, aiming to meet both the pedagogical needs of the course and the perceptions each of us brings from the classroom. Planning is continually adjusted based on student engagement, the need to review certain contents, or openness to new proposals that arise along the way.
As a team, we maintain a constant practice of exchanging feedback on how the meetings go, sharing impressions about what worked, what can be revised, and how each activity resonated with the class. We split observations about the students, align expectations, and seek to build ways to welcome and encourage each participant. For this to happen, communication between us must be clear, respectful, and grounded in listening. It is this continuous dialogue that makes it possible to align classes and sustain the creative learning environment we strive for.
Beyond communication, another fundamental aspect is the sensitivity to know and recognize the person by our side. Understanding that life intersects with work—that demands, exhaustion, desires, and limitations go beyond the classroom space—is an essential part of this process. Contextualizing the colleague you work with, respecting their limits, and recognizing their ways of acting allows for the construction of more careful and honest relationships. From this openness, bonds of trust gradually strengthen, transforming a professional partnership into an affective bond as well. And it is precisely in this intersection of collaboration, trust, and care that collective work becomes more powerful, effective, and satisfying.
Walking Together
We know that creating environments of belonging in education is not an individual task. It requires structure, time, and dignified working conditions that are still lacking for most educators in this country. But from personal experience, if it is possible not to work alone, things tend to get easier. The question of how to build spaces that make sense for those who teach and those who learn has no straightforward answer, but the experience I’ve had with what I call shared teaching shows me that the answer begins when we choose to walk together. While we wait for ideal conditions, which may take a long time or never arrive at all, it is in partnership, listening, and mutual care that we find the strength and reasons to keep going.
Graduation celebration photo for the Minas em Tech 2025 class. The image captures a bit of the joy of accompanying these girls throughout the year and building this journey collectively, alongside teacher Aliene Villaça and project manager Amanda, who, although not acting directly as an educator, is also a fundamental piece in making everything happen.
FREIRE, Paulo. Pedagogia da autonomia: saberes necessários à prática educativa. São Paulo: Paz e Terra, 1996.
HOOKS, bell. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York: Routledge, 1994.
RUFINO, Luiz. Vence-demanda: educação e descolonização. Rio de Janeiro: Mórula, 2021.
References
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FREIRE, Paulo. Pedagogia da autonomia: saberes necessários à prática educativa. São Paulo: Paz e Terra, 1996.
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HOOKS, bell. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York: Routledge, 1994.
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RUFINO, Luiz. Vence-demanda: educação e descolonização. Rio de Janeiro: Mórula, 2021.