How Do New Critical Pedagogies Develop? Educational Innovation, Social Change, and Landless Workers in Brazil [Teachers College Record] (original) (raw)
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British Journal of Sociology of Education, 2019
This article explores how social movement co-governance of public education offers an alternative to neoliberal educational models. The Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (MST) is one of the largest social movements in Latin America. We describe one of the many schools that the MST co-governs, the Itinerant School Paths of Knowledge (Caminhos do Saber), located in an occupied encampment in the state of Paraná. We analyze three of the most unique pedagogical innovations in the school: the teacher’s incorporation of ‘portions of reality’ into classroom teaching, the student work collectives, and the participatory student evaluation process. Although these pedagogies are seemingly mundane changes to everyday school practice, we argue that they represent a challenge to the neoliberal educational model being implemented globally. These movement pedagogies are likely to continue, despite recent conservative attacks, and they offer several concrete lessons for how to effectively contest neoliberal educational practices in other global contexts.
Education, civil society, and social change: A case study of a Brazilian social movement
2006
For the last twenty-five years, the Landless Worker's Movement (MST) has organized some 1.5 million landless rural workers to claim and occupy unutilized cultivable land to which they are legally entitled under the 1988 Constitution. The movement has been instrumental in the redistribution of unused cultivable land to thousands of landless rural families and the creation of a new positive identity for rural people that values their culture, knowledge, and autonomy. In doing so, the movement has become a global exemplar for a more equitable, just, and sustainable approach to development. A philosophy and practice of education that is democratic and responsive to the social and economic contexts of rural learners has played a key role in the expansion and longevity of this popular movement. My dissertation looks at the ways in which the MST has contributed to improving the quality of education policy and programming for rural children, youth, and adults. My dissertation begins with an examination of the ideologies and institutional arrangements that have historically shaped the formulation and implementation of policies for rural basic education in Brazil. I discuss relationships between the state, market, and society and, in particular, the construction of alternative policy arenas and discourses by organized civil society that have shaped current efforts by the federal government to develop a national rural education policy. I go on to examine the micro-interactions between the state and the MST in the context of literacy programs for rural youth and adults in the state of Rio de Janeiro. In this context, I discuss the possibilities for expanded participation in policy formulation and implementation for basic education for a) organized civil society, b) rural communities, c) educators, and d) learners. This study has implications for the ways in which we understand and theorize about the role of progressive social movements in opening up new educational, political, and social possibilities for a democratic society.
The Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 2015
One of the hallmarks of anti-capitalist social movements in Latin America is the incorporation of self-organizing processes of political education and involvement in the educational process of their children and youth. This article discusses popular education and critical pedagogy upheld by historical and contemporary Brazilian social movements, particularly the Landless Workers Movement (MST) and its historical struggles in defence of public education. First, it identifies the context of the origins of popular education in the late 1950s and early 1960s, notably Paulo Freire’s epistemological and theoretical contributions. After characterizing the political context of the period, the article focuses on the key experiences of popular education. It then discusses Florestan Fernandes’ criticism of the Bourgeois-Democratic Revolution strategy that played a leading role in the struggles of the period 1955–1964. Next the period of pedagogical practices that were forged in resistance to t...
The Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (MST) is one of the largest and most influential social movements in Latin America. Since the very beginning of the movement's agrarian reform struggle, MST leaders have developed a broad-based program of leadership, political training, and education for all participants in the movement. The MST's educational demands are organically connected to the movement's attempt to create, in the present, a new social order based on social justice, participatory democracy, autonomy, and humanistic and socialist values. The goal of this article is to introduce to an English-speaking audience the main contours and components of the MST's educational proposal. The first part of this article discusses the three theoretical foundations of the movement's educational approach and its five pedagogical practices. The second part of the paper presents two concrete experiences of educational institutions administered by the MST leadership: the " Itinerant Schools " in Paraná, a network of public schools located inside MST occupied encampments, and the MST's national political training school, the Escola Nacional Florestan Fernandes (ENFF). Together, these two cases offer concrete examples of how the MST's educational proposal is implemented in diverse Brazilian contexts.
2016
The Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (MST) is one of the largest and most influential social movements in Latin America. Since the very beginning of the movement’s agrarian reform struggle, MST leaders have developed a broad-based program of leadership, political training, and education for all participants in the movement. The MST’s educational demands are organically connected to the movement’s attempt to create, in the present, a new social order based on social justice, participatory democracy, autonomy, and humanistic and socialist values. The goal of this article is to introduce to an English-speaking audience the main contours and components of the MST’s educational proposal. The first part of this article discusses the three theoretical foundations of the movement’s educational approach and its five pedagogical practices. The second part of the paper presents two concrete experiences of educational institutions administered by the MST leadership: the “Itinerant Schools” i...
How does education mediate the relationship between the co-production of environmental knowledge, and the social reproduction of an alternative society? This article draws upon a political ecology of education framework to analyze how schools advance alternative land management strategies and forms of environmental knowledge. Schools catering to grassroots movements can actualize their emancipatory objectives by institutionalizing hybridized conceptions of educational space-time. This article focuses on a vocational high school in a settlement of the Brazilian Landless Workers' Movement. It analyzes a document known as a 'political pedagogical project' (PPP) which details the identity of the school and how it sees itself as a tool for social and environmental justice. Through an analysis of this PPP, my article explores how the school seeks to educate students to critically reflect upon the relationships between political economic processes and landscape change. The PPP also encourages students to be active participants in the development of a regional agroecological science, and cooperative material relations. From a political ecology of education perspective, activist schools are important sites for the co-production of environmental knowledge and material relations. They have the potential to help students learn critically about the linkages between power, political economy, and land management. Comment l'éducation peut servir de médiateur de la relation entre la co-production de connaissances sur l'environnement, et de la reproduction sociale d'une société alternative? Cet article se fonde sur un cadre de l'écologie politique de l'éducation pour analyser comment les écoles progresser les stratégies de gestion des terres, et les formes de la connaissance de l'environnement. Des écoles pour les mouvements populaires peuvent actualiser leurs objectifs d'émancipation, en institutionnalisant conceptions hybrides de l'éducation l'espace-temps. Cet article se concentre sur un lycée professionnel dans un campement du Mouvement des travailleurs sans terre brésiliens (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra). Il analyse un document connu comme un «projet pédagogique politique» (PPP) qui détaille l'identité de l'école et comment il se considère comme un outil pour la justice sociale et environnementale. Grâce à une analyse de ce PPP, l'article explore la façon dont l'école cherche à éduquer les étudiants à une réflexion critique sur les relations entre les processus économiques et politiques et l'évolution du paysage. Le PPP encourage également les élèves à être des participants actifs dans le développement d'une science agroécologique régionale et les relations de coopération matérielles. D'un point de vue de l'écologie politique de l'éducation, les écoles activistes sont des sites importants pour la co-production de connaissances environnementales et du relations matériels. Ils ont le potentiel d'aider les élèves à apprendre de façon critique sur les liens entre le pouvoir, l'économie politique et la gestion des terres. ¿De qué manera sirve la educación para mediar entre la coproducción del conocimiento ambiental y la reproducción social de una sociedad alternativa? Este articulo utiliza un marco analítico de la ecología política de la educación para analizar como escuelas promuevan estrategias alternativas para el manejo de tierras y formas alternativas de conocimiento ambiental. Escuelas que sirven a los movimientos sociales pueden realizar sus objetivos emancipadores a través de la institucionalización de conceptos híbridos del espacio-tiempo educacional. Este artículo se enfoca en una preparatoria vocacional en una comunidad formada por el Movimiento de Trabajadores Rurales Sin Tierra (MST) en Brasil. Analiza a un documento conocido como un ?proyecto pedagógico político? (PPP) que discute con detalles la identidad de la escuela y su papel de arma para conseguir la justicia socioambiental. La escuela busca educar a sus estudiantes para que entiendan y critiquen a los vínculos entre procesos económico-políticos y cambios en el paisaje. Promueve la participación activa en el desarrollo de una ciencia agroecológica regional y relaciones sociales cooperativas. Desde la perspectiva de la ecología política de la educación, escuelas activistas como esta pueden ayudar a los alumnos a entender los vínculos entre poder, economía política, y manejo de la tierra. Como é que a educação mediar a relação entre a co-produção do conhecimento ambiental, e a reprodução social de uma sociedade alternativa? Este artigo baseia-se em uma teoria de ecologia política da educação para analisar como as escolas avançar estratégias e formas de conhecimento ambiental e sistemas de manejo de terras alternativas. Escolas de que pertence os movimentos populares podem realizar seus objetivos emancipatórios, institucionalizando concepções de hibridizaram educacional espaço-tempo. Este artigo concentra-se em uma escola profissional em um assentamento do Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra do Brasil. Ele analisa um documento conhecido como um "projeto político pedagógico" (PPP), que detalha a identidade da escola e como ele vê a si mesma como uma ferramenta para a justiça social e ambiental. Através de uma análise dessa PPP, meu artigo explora como a escola visa educar os alunos a refletir criticamente sobre as relações entre os processos econômicos e políticos e de mudança da paisagem. O PPP também incentiva os alunos a serem participantes activos no desenvolvimento de uma ciência agroecológica regional e as relações de cooperação. A partir de uma perspectiva de ecologia política de educação, escolas do movimento são encontrados para ser locais importantes para a co-produção de conhecimento ambiental e relações materiais. Eles têm o potencial de ajudar os alunos a aprender criticamente sobre as relações entre poder, economia política e gestão da terra.
Politics & Society, 2013
The Landless Workers' Movement (MST) has been the principal protagonist developing an alternative educational proposal for rural public schools in Brazil. This article analyzes the MST's differential success implementing this proposal in municipal and state public schools. The process is both participatory-activists working with government officials to implement MST goals-and contentious-the movement mobilizing support for its education initiatives through various forms of protest. In some locations, the MST has succeeded in institutionalizing a participatory relationship with government actors, while in other regions the MST has a more limited presence in the schools or has been completely banned from participating. Drawing on the concept of coproduction-the active participation of civil society actors in the provision of public goods-the author argues that coproduction is a joint product of high levels of social mobilization and government orientation. The former is necessary in all cases, while the latter can take the form of either a leftleaning or clientelistic government.