While South Africa assessed Grade 1 learners (6 – 8 year olds) in the Western Cape province, our Brazilian counterparts follow children since the first year of pre-schooling in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro and Juiz de Fora), 4 - 7 year olds. South Africa and Brazil are developing countries and face political and economic challenges, but thought-provoking differences have been noted from the visit. The differences between the two countries include that children start school at an earlier age in Brazil, and also that class sizes are much smaller than commonly found in South Africa (less than 30 learners in a class in Foundation Phase in Brazil - Rio de Janeiro and Juiz de Fora).

Possible areas for collaboration between the CEA and CAEd include: academic exchange programmes, collaborating on academic articles, joint supervision of students who want to use iPIPS data, psychometric workshops and an item banking project. The CEA will continue to work for future partnerships with CAEd and to set up an institutional agreement and strengthen our ties to the University of Juiz de Fora.