Programa Escola Ativa: educação do campo e trabalho docente

Abstract

The Active School Program (PEA) was implemented in Brazil in 1997 within the framework of an agreement with the World Bank, aiming to improve the performance of students of rural multigrade classrooms. The PEA focuses on training teachers and improving the infrastructure of schools, and proposes broad changes in the organization of teaching, becoming the only public policy geared specifically for multigrade classrooms in Brazil. Its history is distinguished by the coexistence with social movements that synthesize and advocate for new principles for rural education, aligned with its own interests, and setting them on a new concept. In 2002 those principles became references for a national policy for rural education and started to guide, in theory, the PEA´s reformulation and redirection. The objective of this research is to examine the the PEA impact on teacher work in rural education. Three fronts of analysis were initiated: the first one was a macro analysis, related to the historical context of the PEA´s formulation, and the beginning of its implementation in Brazil; a meso analysis, on the processes of appropriation and resistance from different interest groups; and an microanalysis, on changes in the teaching work in the field, since the implementation of the PEA, considering the meanings that the teaching work acquires for teachers, since the new requirements and conditions were engendered. Reconstructing PEA´s development, from its origin to its universalization, we tried to identify the role of the teachers who works in schools adherent to the PEA and the role of social movements in proposing a national policy for rural education. Initially, a macro analysis of the development and implementation of PEA, through literature review, was made. A modernizing rhetoric and a top-down technocratic rationality guiding the policies, in terms of autonomy and professionalization of teachers was observed. In the meso level, through interviews, document analysis and participatory research, we sought to diagram convergent and divergent points in the interaction of PEA´ coordination with the social movements that involved discussions on rural education in Brazil. It was found a considerable amount of data gathered on a collective basis and used only by the critical movement, isolated from the public policymakers. On the micro level, we used research techniques in which the teachers group was the strategy of approach and the way of collecting the data and analyzing it. The techniques were used during a seminar, in which all rural teachers from PEA´s schools from a municipality of Goiás participated. It was observed that, from the perspective of teachers, there was improvement in material conditions for practicing the teaching profession since PEA began. However, this was insufficient to ensure adequate conditions for all teachers and pupils and an extension of teacher autonomy, which led to work intensification and resulted in increase in the working day. We also observed a vertical relationship between the local coordinator and teachers. We conclude that the PEA has a strong top-down form of implementing its policies and programs, in the macro, meso and a micro sphere, which covers the whole process of formulation, implementation, evaluation and universalization. This and reflects in difficulty to incorporate critical productions and collective analysis, beyond the level of discourse