EDUCAÇÃO PROFISSIONAL PARA JOVENS E ADULTOS NO LITORAL PARANAENSE

Abstract

This work approaches the offer of PROEJA (National Programme for the Integration between Professional Education and Basic Education in the form of Youth and Adult Education) in the Paraná coast, Brazil. Its general aim is to revisit the historical and political principles of a social practice that unveils a theoretical perspective in defence of social fights within the field of Youth and Adult Education (YAE). Its specific aims are: to reflect on education-work relationships and human education; to observe the contradictory aspects in the discourse of PROEJA Base Document and how they are related to the development of courses; to relate PROEJA to the approaches present in the documents published by the state of Paraná with respect to both Youth and Adult Education and Professional Education (PE); and to survey data on the development of PROEJA as a public policy for education, pointing out the contradictions of its documents, conceptions and principles with school reality. The research problem is the investigation of how the federal government and the state of Paraná have been approaching the pedagogical principles of PROEJA, YAE and PE, taking into account the development and implementation of the programme in a scenario marked by the contradiction between the theory expressed in the document and the actual daily school practice. The object of this study was chosen as a result of the author’s work as a pedagogue in the state education network, being able to follow the resurgence of PE in Paraná and notice that the related documents depict a reality in disagreement with the development of public policies both for PE and YAP. This research is qualitative and quantitative-based and started with a review of the literature on work, Integrated Secondary Education, AYP, and PE, in order to provide a support for the addressed issues. The Curriculum Guidelines for Youth and Adult Education, the Curriculum Guidelines for Professional Education, and the works on PROEJA by the Department of Education and Culture and Paraná State Board of Education were also taken as references. By presenting the voice of students, a school manager and a course director who are experiencing the process whereby PROEJA is being developed and put into effect, this research contributes to reflecting on and understanding that process.