The educational counter-reforms as a project of entrepreneurization of basic education in Brazil.

Abstract

The Brazilian educational system has undergone counter-reforms in recent years that are aligned with the neoliberal project adopted since the 1990s. These reforms represent an intensification of the entrepreneurization of education in Brazil. The business sector has played a central role in state reforms in economically dependent countries in the late 20th century, and the education sector was no exception. The counter-reform of the New High School (2017) and the latest version of the National Common Curricular Base (2017) align with an educational consensus that emerged from the Jomtien Conference (1990). This consensus advocates for the adoption of market logics to address educational problems. In order for the business sector to play this leading role, the so-called “third sector” was presented as an alternative to the bureaucratic state. Thus, numerous institutions linked to the bourgeoisie of civil society took over the management of Brazilian public education. In this article, we will analyze the main documents that guide the neoliberal reforms of the late 20th century and discuss the bourgeoisie's main intentions, as well as the consequences of the process of commodifying Brazilian education. We will demonstrate how this process is intrinsically linked to the logic of the capitalist system, which faces conjunctural and structural crises. Using historical materialism as a basis, we will examine how the ruling class utilizes public education, through its Private Apparatuses of Hegemony, to shape consumers and workers who conform to the capital's permanent crisis system. We will also address how schools become privileged spaces to create consensus and reinforce the dominance of the ruling class over the dominated class. As a result of the commodification of Brazilian education, we highlight the deepening of the welfare-oriented nature attributed to public schools, the creation of a dualism between education for the working class and the ruling class, and how these aspects are reflected in the hollowing out of the curriculum and the goals of Science Education.