Youth and Adult Education within the municipal sphere in Minas Gerais

Abstract

The expansion of the subnational responsabilities towards basic education questions the protagonism of the local power since the 1990s. Youth and Adult Education (YAE) is part of the agenda of the municipal commitments and awakens attention as to the forms of care that have been carried out in order to fulfill everyone’s right to education. The article presents data from a study that was concerned with mapping and understanding educational offers to youths and adults undertaken by ten municipalities in Minas Gerais. The quantitative-qualitative research produced data from meetings with YAE managers, research seminars, classroom monitoring, interviews with managers, teachers and students. These data dialogue with literature in the area of the post 1988 Federal Constitution. The analysis of the data, in light of the convergences and singularities, highlights the recurring statement that “YAE will end” and resonances of the statement “I fell into YAE” coming from the research collaborators. Educational managers recognize that Youth and Adult Education has its own characteristics. It is evinced that this recognition alone has not been sufficient to support an YAE proposal, which attends to the provision of an educator’s position through a public selection process and continuing education focused on the specificities of youths, adults and the elderly. At the end, it makes recommendations stemming from the implications to the teacher’s profile as a professional who claims to be able to: “dive into YAE”.