Título: Políticas Educacionais e o Acesso, Permanência e Evasão Escolar na Educação de Jovens e Adultos no município de Itapeva/SP

Abstract

Illiteracy and low school level rates in Brazil have proven to be a phenomenon of great concern, directly influencing the social, cultural, political, and economic lives of millions of Brazilians. Due to the historical and political devaluation of the Youth and Adult Education (YAE) teaching modality, there is a need for new investigations in the field. This is a qualitative, exploratory research study, with data collection in the field, in which we investigate a concrete reality in the municipality of Itapeva, a city in São Paulo state countryside. Its general objective is to analyze how the municipality of Itapeva/SP has organized itself in terms of Educational Policies, and the offering, access and permanence aspects of Itapeva’s YAE. The specific objectives were to rescue conceptual, historical, political and social aspects of the YAE; to approximate Paulo Freire's epistemology and methodology with the YAE modality; and to investigate how YAE has been systematized in the municipality. Thus, this dissertation aims to broaden the discussions about Youth and Adult Education in the History and Educational Policies research line, as well as to answer the following problem: How is the Youth and Adult Education modality structured in the municipality of Itapeva/SP, considering its political scope? And how does this aspect reflect on the issues of access, permanence and school dropout in the municipality? The interest in the object of study - YAE - arose from personal experiences in the researcher’s childhood, including the trajectory in Scientific Initiation during the under graduation in Pedagogy. The study was carried out in six stages: 1) Literature review about YAE, in the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Educational Personnel platform; 2) Survey and analysis of statistical data, which comprise the information about education from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics; 3) Mapping and analysis of historical, political and social elements about YAE; 4) Writing, reading and reflection regarding Paulo Freire's epistemology and methodology; 5) Field research, through interview with a pedagogical coordinator and a teacher representative, both working with YAE, in the only school institution that offers the modality in the municipality of Itapeva/SP, and a conversation with YEA students; 6) Analysis of the data obtained from the interviews. It is evident that this research has Paulo Freire's critical epistemology as its interlocutor. It is expected that the research results will contribute to the educational field professionals, supporting them in their decision-making process and in the recognition of this teaching modality importance for millions of Brazilians; broaden the discussions in the field of Youth and Adult Education, cooperating to its social, political and historical reconfiguration; and, especially, to denounce the context of the Youth and Adult Education modality in the municipality of Itapeva/SP.