Programa Mais Alfabetização (PMALFA): uma análise político-pedagógica

Abstract

This Master’s thesis aimed to analyze the Programa Mais Alfabetização (PMALFA) - More Initial Reading Instruction Program -, instituted by the Ministry of Education, from 2018, with regard to its foundations, contributions, paradoxes and consequences for the initial reading instruction process of students of the early years of Elementary School of Ponta Grossa Municipal Education Network – Paraná, Brazil. The theoretical framework was based on the policy cycle approach (Stephen J. Ball and colleagues), the theory of policy enactment (BALL; MAGUIRE; BRAUN, 2016) and the concepts of initial reading instruction and literacy and its implications for pedagogical practice (SOARES, 2003, 2016, 2019; MORTATTI, 2004; VALLE, 2013; CARVALHO, 2014). The research involved the following data collection procedures: a) document analysis; and b) semi-structured interviews with two managers from the Ponta Grossa Municipal Education Secretariat, three principals, two pedagogical coordinators, nine conducting teachers and four initial reading instruction assistants who worked in four municipal schools. It was argued that investments in improving teaching and learning conditions in initial reading instruction classes are important and necessary, but they need to integrate a permanent and organic education policy. It was concluded that: a) PMALFA was configured as a palliative and temporary policy; b) the management teams of the researched schools sought to put PMALFA into action in order to meet the students’ learning needs; c) continuing education strategies were incipient; and d) the way of hiring initial reading instruction assistants revealed the precariousness of the work.