YOUTH AND ADULT EDUCATION (EJA) IN BRAZIL – CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES IN THE CURRICULUM AND METHODOLOGIES IN THE LIGHT OF THE LDB

Abstract

Youth and Adult Education (EJA), although provided for by Brazilian legislation as a fundamental right, still faces numerous challenges in its practical implementation, especially with regard to the curriculum and pedagogical methodologies adopted in public schools. This article proposes a critical reflection on the paths taken by EJA in Brazil, based on the legal frameworks of the Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education (LDB) and on the experiences lived by educators and students in different territories of the country. The object of research focuses on the analysis of the curriculum and the methodologies used in the teaching-learning processes of EJA, seeking to understand how these choices influence – positively or negatively – the permanence, autonomy and critical formation of the subjects served by this modality. Thus, it starts from the following question: How do the curriculum and methodologies practiced in EJA, in the light of the LDB, contribute (or not) to an emancipatory and inclusive education? As a theoretical framework to broaden our view of EJA we used the works of Dewey (1916; 1938; 1997), Gramsci (2011), Freire (1967; 1970; 1985; 1996), Oliveira Lima (1971; 1979), Vygotsky (1978), Knowles (2005), Mezirow (1991), Brookfield (2005), Biesta (2006; 2011), McLaren (2014; 2015), Giroux (2004), Torres (2008; 2013), Saviani (2013; 2018; 2019), Abreu (2014),  among others. The research is qualitative (Minayo, 2007), bibliographic (Gil, 2008) and we use the comprehensive perspective to carry out the analysis (Weber, 1949). The findings revealed that the realization of the right to EJA requires more than the existence of legal guidelines – practical, curricular and methodological demands that are consistent with the reality and diversity of the subjects. The analysis showed that, in the light of the LDB, challenges related to standardization, fragmentation and devaluation of popular knowledge still predominate. However, from a critical-emancipatory approach, it is possible to build a living, dialogical curriculum committed to social justice. Listening, participation and the link between school knowledge and life experience emerge as structuring axes. Thus, EJA reaffirms its political role as a space for transformation.