THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA IN EDUCATIONAL POLICY FORMATION AND LEGITIMATION IN BRAZIL : 1995-2008

AUTOR(ES)
FONTE

IBICT - Instituto Brasileiro de Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia

DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2008

RESUMO

(...)As we have seen in the previous chapters, the media has taken center stage in the educational debate and policy formation in Brazil over the last fifteen years. In this closing chapter, I address the following questions: What are the major implications of this structural shift toward a media-driven educational agenda? To what extern has the dominant education discourse enacted and legitimated by the mainstream media affected education restructuring and policies? What are the main contributions of this study\ s findings to education policy and research? What insights can commited educators and social activists gain by critically considering the role of the media in education policy formation and legitimation, which might help them to be more effective in their struggle for democratic schools and social justice? From a critical perspective, what trends and developments in education reforms can be anticipated by considering the new hegemonic alliance built around the PDE? In short, what comes next? The first conclusion to emerge from this study is that the dominant media favors market-driven global models of society and educational reforms. According to the media discourse, the only acceptable regime for the allocation of public resources and the equitable distribution of opportunities and wealth in a capitalist society is the so-called meritocracy. When it conies to the school system, this discourse asserts that individuals are born equal and entitled to the same fundamental rights, but they have to compete tor the best places and opportunities, be constantly tested and measured, sorted out and placed on different academic tracks based on their performance and abilities, and, as a corollary, be rewarded and praised for their efforts, talents and achievements. Handicaps and socially inherited disadvantages that individuals bring from the starting point are not taken into account. Chronic poverty and enduring social inequalities are deemed to be corrected by schooling itself. After all, according to the core tenets of human capital theory, income distribution is a proxy of education. Given the troubled political history of Brazil in the 20th century, marked by coup d\ etats and breaks in the constitutional regime, swinging between dictatorship and democracy, it would be fair to say that the period under study (1995-2008) has unusual characteristics: for the only time since it became a republic in 1889 Brazil has experienced an extended period of relative political and economic stability and has made important advances in the reducing poverty and other social inequalities. Another characteristic of this period has been the unfamiliar alternation of power as a result of the 2002 presidential election, which resulted in Cardoso going into the history books as the first democratically elected president in the last five decades who passed on the presidential sash to his successor. It is important to note that the arrival of the PT in central power was a definitive test for the consolidation of Brazilian democracy. Far from bringing about a political break, the Lula\ s presidency has guaranteed the continuity of the structural adjustment which was initiated by the Cardoso government. A number of analysts have thus suggested that, from a historical perspective, the two administrations should be seen as part of the same political cycle, which has been characterized by the opening of the economy and the Brazil\ s attempt to become a competitive player in the globalized world, beginning with affirming its regional leadership in Latin America. Actually, the globalization paradigm first became widespread in political discourse in the 1990s and has been evoked with particularly bold rhetoric as a rationale underlying the urge for a sweeping educational restructuring, now perceived by powerful stakeholders as an imperative if Brazil wants to fulfill the requirements of the emerging knowledge-based economy. As this study demonstrates, the mainstream media offers a privileged vantage point to observe and analyze the enactment of a broad new \"consensus\" surrounding educational reforms. As a key economic, political, and cultural institution, the media have been very successful in framing educational discourse and shaping educational policies over the last two decades. In addition, private media conglomerates have played an active role in education provision and policy formation, supposedly to compensate for the State\ s neglect and society\ s indifference toward public schools.(...)

ASSUNTO(S)

educacao brazil educational policy media

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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