Serviço social e assistência estudantil: a produção do conhecimento na área em questão

Abstract

The National Student Assistance Program has specific configurations and developments in Brazil. Especially when – in Lula’s government - Decree Nº 7,234, of July 19, 2010, was published. With its approval, student assistance began to trace its paths in the area of public higher education in the most diverse universities that expanded throughout the country, gaining centrality as a means of access and permanence of students to Higher Education Institutions. At this juncture, there was an expansion of the possibilities for the insertion of social workers in this socio-occupational space, acting with the demand that presented itself. Jointly, in view of the opportunities and incentives offered by universities, there is a greater interest from social workers and student assistance workers to qualify when seeking masters and doctoral graduate programs, producing scientific knowledge about the demands that arise and the professional work in Student Assistance. Based on this analysis, this research has as its central theme Social Work and the production of knowledge in the area of Student Assistance. The applied methodology sought to answer the following research problem: how the productions in the scope of Postgraduate studies in the area of Social Work analyze the concept of Student Assistance in Public Higher Education and how they relate Social Assistance Policy and Education Policy in the scope of Assistance Student? As a general objective it was defined: To analyze the differen conceptions about student assistance in Public Higher Education in the country, from master thesis and doctoral dissertation of the Postgraduate Programs in the area of social work. As specific objectives: to systematize the scientific productions of Postgraduate Programs in the area of Social Work that research Student Assistance at Federal Public Universities; apprehend who and where are the researchers who are conducting research on the topic; explain the differences in conceptions around the study on Student Assistance present in these productions. As a methodological resource, bibliographical research was carried out based on the thesis and dissertations found in the databases of the repositories and virtual libraries of the PPGSS in area 32 of CAPES. The reflections of this study allowed us to see that there is not only an understanding of the nature, meaning and operationalization of Student Assistance in public higher education. Although in the production of thesis and dissertations there is an understanding that the Student Assistance Program has a nature linked to the social assistance policy, the arguments outlined in the research, link a conception of student assistance as a specific field of work and professional work in the context of higher education policy.