Práticas curriculares democráticas em escolas do campo no Brasil

Abstract

This thesis aims to investigate democratic curricular practices in schools in the rural areas of Brazil. The conceptual analysis that we propose takes the critical theory as a theoretical reference to approach the curriculum, based on the definitions of Schools and democratic curricula by Michael Apple and James Beane, and on the production on Education in Rural Areas in Brazil, among which the works of Roseli Caldart and Mônica Molina have been highlighted for their ability to analyze the social, political and pedagogical function of schools in rural areas to the Brazilian peasantry. In this sense, seeking to understand the challenges imposed to society, to Education and to the School by capitalism in its neoliberal stage, we carried out a sociological and political analysis that is structured around Marxist-based intellectuals and neo-Marxist strands, examining their effects mainly on democracy. This theoretical perspective is interwoven with the political approach called “common” developed by Pierre Dardot and Christian Laval, of opposition, resistance and anticipation to the current effects of neoliberalism on society, Education and School. For the analysis constructed in this thesis, we used as empirical field a School in a Settlement, located in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, and an Agricultural Family School, located in the State of Espírito Santo. The description, analysis and understanding of curricular practices presented used the comparative studies in Education and Curriculum as a research method, having Maria Ciavatta, Fabiany C. T. Silva and Jurgen Schriewer as references. Such methodological option, in line with the theoretical contribution, indicates that the political diversity and the pedagogical diversity of curricular practices are alternatives to neoliberal reason, already established in this empirical field of research and built on an emancipatory, participatory, solidary and democratic logic that allows us to indicate the founding of the common based on schools in rural areas. Democratic curricular practices engendered in schools in Brazilian rural areas are part of the perspective of redesigning formative times and spaces, and are anchored in integrative, participatory and critical models for thinking about knowledge and human formation. More than that, the principles arising from the comparative analysis of schools in rural areas show a heuristic potential to think the school of the 21st century.