POLYTECHNIC HIGH SCHOOL: LIMITS AND POSSIBILITIES OF A COUNTER-HEGEMONIC EDUCATIONAL POLICY

Abstract

This article analyzes the formulation and implementation of curricular restructuring of the High School Polytechnic - EMP, developed in the State Education Network of the State of Rio Grande do Sul (REE-RS, Brazil), in the period 2011-2014. The theoretical-methodological basis of the investigation was constituted in dialectical historical materialism. The database was composed of documents published by the sponsor for the implementation of the EMP, the current educational legislation, semi-structured interviews with policy makers and implementers, in the sponsor and in four schools in the city of Porto Alegre. For the interpretation and processing of the data we use principles of Documentary Analysis. The results pointed out that: the origin of this policy lies in socialist and Popular Education (EP) fundamentals; with the EMP, the State tried to mobilize to form emancipated individuals capable of transforming society; there were mentions as to the method of implementation, since SEDUC-RS's management did not allocate more time to debates with school communities; there has been a dismantling and a process of correlation of forces between the new and the old within the schools, being in a certain way a confrontation with the processes of school exclusion. This research helps to identify the intricacies of the limits and possibilities of a curricular restructuring policy aimed at promoting human emancipation in high school, against a secular meritocratic school model, aiming ultimately at the conformation of substantive equality and real social justice.