Novo momento da privatização da educação no contexto do aprofundamento do capitalismo neoliberal brasileiro: o caso da rede estadual de Mato Grosso

Abstract

This thesis examines the role of public education in the intensification of neoliberal capitalism in Brazil, focusing on the case of private sector incursions into the state education network of Mato Grosso from 2018 to 2024. The analysis is premised on the understanding that the mandatory implementation of subnational curricula, as dictated by the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC), has created more favorable conditions for these incursions on a national scale. We argue that the privatization of public education manifests in various forms and is embedded within a broader wave of privatizations. This wave is part of a bourgeois offensive led by U.S. imperialism aimed at reestablishing profit margins and exerting global and domestic influence.This global process, driven by historical necessity and possibility, prioritizes profit maximization in the function of schools within a class-based society without sacrificing its ideological function. The process does not occur without aligning the interests of U.S. imperialism with those of the Brazilian ruling classes. Considering Brazil's peripheral and dependent socio-economic structure, privatization strategies typically find ways to compensate both domestic and foreign capitalists. This often involves stock purchases, as the service bourgeoisie that emerged from the 1990s privatizations transformed local and regional companies into publicly traded educational conglomerates within a decade.The thesis demonstrates that this concerted effort was orchestrated by various sectors of the bourgeoisie, notably through the "Todos Pela Educação" and "Movimento Pela Base" initiatives. These initiatives are rooted in the educational paradigms promoted by international organizations for "education for the 21st century" and have received substantial support from the Brazilian state to convert public education into a market niche. The most developed outcomes of this relationship are the BNCC and the New High School Model (NEM). Based on the analysis of contracts with the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV) for a Structured Education System and continuous professional development courses with the Telefônica Vivo Foundation and the Natura Institute, alongside critical literature, the thesis argues that the privatization dynamics in Mato Grosso's state education (Brazil) are symptomatic of the broader neoliberal capitalist trajectory in Brazil, mirroring trends in other states. Consequently, a larger portion of educational funding is being diverted to private organizations, which increasingly influence the public education agenda.Specifically, the argument posits that the teaching profession is being undermined in this process, stripping educators of their professional autonomy and reducing them to executors of proprietary educational materials and platforms. This phenomenon accentuates the predominance of 'dead labor' over 'living labor' in public education, serving the capital's imperative for both market expansion and ideological dissemination of its educational and societal blueprints.