Contradictory policies of flexibility and centralization: reflections on the history and policies for children’s education in Goiás

Abstract

This article presents a set of theoretical and methodological reflections on children’s education in Goiás, and focuses on a set of significant information and data from the State and from the municipality of Goiânia, in particular. The data, drawn up from a dialectic perspective (Marx, 1983) herein presented, are based on studies and analyses undertaken over the last seven years. Different studies have been milestones along the path of the Group for Study and Research into Childhood and its Education, of the FE/UFG within the Research Project “Public Policies and Children’s Education in Goiás: history, concepts, projects and practice”. The results of the analyses and reflections allow for a discussion of the specific field of Children’s Education and related policies within the State and also at national and international levels, leading to various contradictions. It can be seen that productive restructuring, growth of neo-liberalism and policies for the decentralization of resources and the centralization of power within the State create a paradox. Children’s Education is seen as a means of promoting policies for political and social development, but at the same time, is classified as a problem. There is a growing movement towards the privatization and philanthropism of what is public in the case of Children’s Education.