O ensino de ciência política no novo ensino médio: uma análise dos documentos curriculares de Minas Gerais (2022-2024)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the teaching of Political Science in the context of the New High School (Law No. 13,415/2017), taking as its object curricular documents from the Minas Gerais state school system. The investigation focused on the potential impacts that the new curriculum model could have on the approach to Political Science content, which is included in the school knowledge of the subject of Sociology, in view of the implications of a possible emptying. In this context, we consider the advance and influence of neoliberal policies in Brazil, with ramifications in the field of education, with the New High School policy being one of its most recent and controversial developments. In view of this, a number of questions have arisen, the main one being: are the new guidelines and curriculum documents being drawn up in a way that is compatible with quality education and capable of stimulating critical reflections in students about the knowledge surrounding politics? Armed with the questions and the general objective, the specific objectives were outlined, including: examining laws and bills related to the New High School; investigating the neoliberal influences on this reform; analyzing the curricular matrices of high school in Minas Gerais (2022-2024); tracing a brief history of Sociology and Political Science in high school; understanding how Political Science knowledge was incorporated into the documents of Minas Gerais (2022-2024). The research adopted a qualitative approach, using bibliographic and documentary analysis (Lüdke; André, 2022) and content analysis (Bardin, 1977). We began by reading and studying books and scientific articles on scientific portals, especially CAPES journals. To support our understanding of neoliberalism and its influences in Brazil, we turned to Wendy Brown (2019) and Luiz Carlos de Freitas (2018), and on the impacts of this logic on Brazilian education, we turned to the contributions of Evandro Piolli and Mauro Sala (2022). The analysis of the New High School policy involved examining laws, resolutions, ordinances, decrees, opinions and public debates. In addition, we considered documents (PCN, PCN+, OCN-Sociology and the 2018 BNCC) that traced the trajectory of Sociology and Political Science teaching in curricula. In the content analysis, 21 documents from Minas Gerais were compiled, including the CREM/MG (2021), the four curricular components of the Training Itineraries (2022-2024) and the Sociology Course Plans (2022-2024). Based on four categories of analysis – ways of exercising citizenship, political actions, power and state structures and social movements – the data revealed that school political science was present in almost all the materials, except one. Its content was concentrated in the 2nd and 3rd years of high school, predominantly in the CREM/MG materials, in the Sociology Course Plans (2023-2024) and in the “Multiculturalism” Deepening Itinerary Notebook (2024). In general, school Political Science appeared as a possibility for content and practice in the New High School; however, this statement does not apply to the training itineraries, as it would depend on the students' adherence. Finally, we hope that this work will provide support for further studies and serve as a starting point for new academic productions on the subject.