Curriculum policies for brazilian high school education: the discursive production of the state education network of Mato Grosso do Sul (2012)

Abstract

The analyses presented aim to problematize the discursive nuances (both political and curricular) of the identity constructed for high school education in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. To this end, we examine the 2012 High School Curricular Reference Document (MATO GROSSO DO SUL, 2012) in its primary condition, that is, as an “official” text and, therefore, bearer of authorized language, product, process, and producer of interested power relations. Official discourses have the capacity not only to influence but also to regulate fundamental aspects of education, such as the production and distribution of legitimate pedagogical texts, the social relationships underlying the transmission and acquisition of knowledge, and the organization of educational contexts. In summary, given the complexity that the curriculum presents to the educational field, the analysis of official discourses becomes more than necessary; it becomes urgent. Contrary to what was initially hypothesized, the curricular proposal for the network was made, in the midst of a reform movement, as one of the “innovative” educational actions operationalized by the state agent. The organization of the document, which is part of the efforts to inaugurate and reformulate the curriculum, reaches different levels of power (from national to local) and is guided by principles from the economic field, especially those of a neoliberal matrix, which in the educational field assume specific contours, translated in the incorporation of Competence Theories.