European Journal of Scientific Research ISSN 1450-216X / 1450-202X Vol. 158 No 4 March, 2021, pp.326 - 334 http://www. europeanjournalofscientificresearch.com Brazilian Educational Policy from 2017 to 2021: A Neoliberal Commitment? Rogério Teixeira de Oliveira Public Policy and Human Formation Program State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil E-mail: [email protected] Edjofli Dantas Viana Master Business Administration in Project Management IBMR University Center, Brazil E-mail: [email protected] Abstract This article analyzes the February 2017 Common National Curriculum Base, the updates to the National Curriculum Guidelines for Secondary Education, November 2018 and the updates to the General National Curriculum Guidelines for Professional and Technological Education, of January 2021 in Brazil and its directions in line with the neoliberal agenda. For this purpose, a theoretical study was carried out, based on bibliographic research and educational legislation. This article aims to verify the correlation of educational policy between 2017 and 2021 and its overlap with the neoliberal political direction. The results of the study demonstrate that the educational legislation of the observed period was organized for the realization of a liberal direction within the modality. Capitalist production, that is, it has elements that aim at the formation of subjects to be prepared only for work and not for an education that contributes to their human and collective formation. Keywords: Educational public policy, State, Neoliberalism 1. Introduction This article presents a discussion from the National Common Curriculum Base (BNCC) of Brazil, instituted by Law No. 13,415, of February 16, 2017 (MEC, 2017), as well as updates to the National Curriculum Guidelines for High School (DCNEM), instituted by Resolution No. 03, 21 November 2018 (MEC, 2018) and updates to the General National Curriculum Guidelines for Professional and Technological Education (DCNEPT), from CNE/CP Resolution No. 1 of January 5, 2021 (MEC, 2021). The scenario of changes in Brazilian educational policy adds to the worsening of the reality of the Covid-19 pandemic, starting in March 2020, which has evidenced the prioritization of the State for economic issues to the detriment of the preservation of life. In this sense, the defense of public policies that combat inequalities in education, as well as on other fronts guided by democratic protagonism is fundamental for a less unequal society. The article initially makes considerations about education, rights and state and follows with a discussion about neoliberalism in the second section. Next, considerations are presented about work, professional qualification and its correlations with professional and technological education, as well as Brazilian Educational Policy from 2017 to 2021: A Neoliberal Commitment? 327 a specific analysis on Brazilian educational policies from 2017 to 2021. It concludes by attesting to the need for the implementation of educational policies committed to the rights of social subjects and not to the capitalist mode of production that accentuates inequalities. 2. Research Problem and Objective The updates of the DCNEM (MEC, 2018) present changes in the organization of the courses, in the contents and their workloads. Such updates express the result of the process of a neoliberal project that aims to make social policies more flexible and weaken the state's performance. The updates of the DCNEPT (MEC, 2021) are in line with laws 11,741 (MEC, 2008), the DCNEM (2018) and the General National Curriculum Guidelines for Technological Professional Education in Higher Education. The neoliberal direction that permeates these policies demonstrates the purpose of meeting the demands of the world of work in constant evolution (MEC, 2021). Thus, this study aimed to analyze the public educational policy in Brazil from 2017 to 2021, based on a literature review. It also assume the purpose of clarifying that public policies in education in this period have been designed to meet the neoliberal agenda, predominantly based on the formation of labor directed to the production and reproduction of the capitalist mode of production. 3. Education, Rights, State Education is a human category that is part of the process of social production and reproduction. It contributes to the insertion of people in the social scope and permeates their correlations inscribed in the historical movement. The Federal Constitution of Brazil (BRASIL, 1988) established the Democratic Rule of Law, after a period of military government in force between 1964 and 1985. The Magna Carta guarantees the fundamental rights of citizens in article 5 emphasizing equality among all people and also highlighting that education is a fundamental right in article 205 (BRASIL, 1988). The declaration of rights in the Federal Constitution of Brazil is in line with Bobbio (2004), when the author states that the rights of modernity are presented in modern constitutions. The author also points out that human rights are configured within the historical movement (BOBBIO, 2004). Thus, the existence of rights in modern constitutions does not mean that they are effective, but that it is now necessary to protect them (BOBBIO, 2004). In the same direction, Lefebvre (1966) states that the realization of rights takes place from the facts and experiences of social reality that are gestadas in the process of social reproduction. Thus, we appropriate the Marxist conception in the defense of the protagonism of the subjects. Marxism is a perspective that takes place in the dialectical materiality of the real, not being an empiricism or a pragmatism seeking, therefore, to think theoretically and act practically (MARX and ENGELS, 1982). There is no way to dissociate the realization of the subject in the social sphere isolated from practice. In this sense, the totality of human relations in social production is reaffirmed (MARX, 2003). Nature is not in isolation the object of science, but it is also necessary to consider the man, history and society that are produced and reproduced in social practice. Lefebvre (1966) points out that in social practice one must take into account the relationship between theory and practice. This relationship demands complex calculations and is permeated by antagonisms (MARX, 2003; POULANTZAS, 1985). In this sense, the State does not end in the relations of forces of the classes, on the contrary, it forms with them a material set such as an apparatus. Thus, the class struggle is always present within the State and is not something external to it, since the contradictions and presence of the classes are inherent to their own existence. According to Bourdieu (2002) understanding these contradictions raises the "illusion of transparency" of the issues that are posed. To this end, rewearing Marx (2003) when he affirms that the social being of man is responsible for determining his conscience is fundamental. Thus, it is possible to effect a political consciousness that awakens the social individual to understand their place within society and, consequently, the possibilities of changes in it (GRAMSCI, 1978). Locke (1973) argues 328 Rogério Teixeira de Oliveira and Edjofli Dantas Viana that, from this political consciousness, men organize themselves and constitute a political society and, with the objective of self-preservation, surrender their rights to the State. This surrender of rights does not mean that men also surrender their political power, that is, this power continues to be exercised by the people (LOCKE, 1973). Furthermore, political power is related as classes and is organized in the conjuncture of the State (POULANTZAS, 1985). Ramos (2018) highlights, from the assumptions of Gramsci (1891-1937) that the State is formed by political society and civil society. These spheres are permanently in conflict, in order to establish a hegemony according to their particular interests. In this scenario of disputes, public policies are an essential category for the protagonism of social subjects within the State. According to Souza (2007) the implementation of public policies goes through processes of transfer of issues to the political system and through the modeling, decision and implementation of policies. Thus, public policies arise from these correlations between the role of the State and the Government institution. The actions of the subjects in the State are expressed by the action and also by the non-action. In this sense, it is not possible to be outside the State, that is, outside its relations of existence (POULANTZAS, 1985). Furthermore, Poulantzas (1985) and Lefebvre (1966) point out that the inscription of the subjects in the process of social transformation in capitalism is always directed. The actions of the subjects in capitalism take place within the contradictions existing in the production and social reproduction, from the Industrial Revolution, through the Crisis of 1929, the Oil Crisis in the 1970s, the process of globalization in the 1980s, the recession of 2008 and the pandemic of Covid-19 coining elements for social transformation. The neoliberal direction brings as characteristics the reduction of the state's performance, privatization of state enterprises, concentration of transnational capital and hard-hitting transformations in the world of work and in the lives of workers. 4. Neoliberalism The 1980s combined multiple factors, in addition to the economic issue, from contradictory phenomena at the local and global