A geografia na relação trabalho e educação: (contra)tendências para o ensino médio

Abstract

The present dissertation seeks to answer the problematic of what are the (counter)tendencies of the capitalist dynamics in the work and education relation for the teaching-learning of Geography in high school. To do so, it has as its general objective to comprehend the tendencies of the capitalist dynamics of the work and education relation for the teaching-learning of Geography in high school and to outline possibilities of counter-tendencies. The original hypothesis for the resolution of this problematic was that the interest of the capital in the formation for work tends to reduce or even remove the geographical contents from high school, and that the teaching of Geography can contribute to the polytechnical and omnilateral human formation as resistance to this process. Starting with the observation that, although work is a constituent element of the human being, capitalism subverts this meaning and makes it alienated work so that, through surplus value exploitation, it can reproduce its accumulation process. Starting at the 1970s, the international capital suffers an overproduction crisis and, as a way out of this moment, redirects its accumulation strategy, intensifying work exploitation. As a consequence of this process, elements of post-Fordism are disseminated in Brazil, especially Toyotism, which emphasizes flexibility, adaptability and individualism as central aspects for the necessary productive restructuration. We verify that this strategic movement of the capital has impacts in the national education, especially in high school. Through the analysis of recent educational policies (2010-2020), such as the National Education Plan (PNE), the National Pact for Strengthening High School, the National Curricular Guidelines for High School (DCNEM), the Innovative High School Program (ProEMI), the High School Counter-Reform and the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC), we noticed that the historical duality of high school is reinforced, with the strengthening of the formation for the work market based on the productive restructuration principles. Then, we note that Geography, in high school, is also affected by these movements in educational policy, suffering simultaneously of both an elimination process, mainly due to losing space, delegitimization and decharacterization, and of a conciliation process, in which it is adjusted to the new capital needs through the strengthening of the descriptive Geography, the development of adaptative geographical knowledges, the restriction to local as opposed to place, the impossibility of multiscale thinking, among others. However, a counter-tendency to the capital’s educational logic is the adoption of work as an educational principle, with which the ontological condition of work is rescued, as opposed to employment, valuing polytechnics in the search for omnilateral formation. The Geography of Work has shown the possible contributions of Geography to the understanding of the spatiality of work and, through multi-scalarity, with the movement from local to global, Geography can contribute to the construction of an educational project that provides omnilateral formation through work as an educational principle, overcoming the limiting vision of work as employment. The totality of the discussion thus demonstrates the validity of the hypothesis originally put forth.