Educação ao Longo da Vida: a Unesco e o projeto educativo da (con)formação para os jovens e adultos

Abstract

This thesis is part of the research line Education, Social Policies and State, of the Postgraduate Program in Education at the Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná – Unioeste, Cascavel campus. Its object of study is the concept of Lifelong Education, which is widespread in the documents of international organizations that guide educational policies, especially those produced by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), regarding Youth and Adult Education (EJA). The historical foundations of the concept of Lifelong Education were explored, since it is proposed as the guiding principle of a new education project for the 21st century, advocated and disseminated within UNESCO. Thus, our thesis is that the process of (con)formation of Youth and Adult Education, through the slogan of Lifelong Education, advocated by UNESCO, is one of the consequences of the process of productive restructuring. The general objective and thesis derive from the research’s guiding question: “How does UNESCO's Lifelong Education project reflect the (con)formation of labor relations resulting from the productive restructuring of the late 20th and early 21st centuries?” For the development of this thesis, we used a qualitative approach, through bibliographic and documentary research. The UNESCO documents were reports produced between 1972 and 2022. The motivation for the selection of the UNESCO documents derived from their use of a slogan related to “Lifelong Education.” We sought to analyze our object of study within the historical movement of educational policies, understanding it in its multiple determinations that arise from the broader process of social transformation, which refers to the capitalist mode of production in its maintenance and reproduction. With this in mind, we rely on theorists such as: Marx (1975, 1982, 1984, 2004, 2009), Mészáros (2002, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2022), Harvey (1996, 2008, 2011); Antunes (1995, 2002, 2008, 2011), Lessa (1999), among others. It was possible to observe that, historically, the relationship between work and education has been shaped by the social division of labor. Therefore, education serves the purpose of preparing employable individuals, adaptable to the ever-changing job market. The slogan “Lifelong Education,” present in UNESCO documents, demonstrates alignment and (con)formation with this perspective. It can be highlighted that changes in line with capital’s educational project, supported by the slogan “Lifelong Education,” aims to reduce political resistance and strengthen a new consensus. We thus understand that the slogan “Lifelong Education” is based on capital’s necessary assimilation of changes in production processes and how productive restructuring entails changes in educational aspects. It serves as the guiding principle of a new Education project for the 21st century, advocated and disseminated within UNESCO.