“Mais uma vez convocados”: a atuação política de Florestan Fernandes no desenvolvimento de uma educação democrática

Abstract

Professor, researcher, sociologist and politician, but most importantly a Brazilian citizen, Florestan Fernandes is the author of an extensive body of work that guides the understanding of Brazil from its educational system perspective. According to his biographical studies, he strongly advocated for an education acessible to all, believing that every citizen should have access to every educational opportunity avaible, that being the core of his concept of democratic education. In order for this to be consolidated, Florestan Fernandes defended the creation of a high-quality public school that is emancipatory, humanazing and commited to social equality. The fullfilment of this, among other dedemands require investiments in education, but also proactive and clear atittudes regarding the actual conditions for these investments. Guided by this context, the present objective of this research is focused in analysing the aspects of Florestan Fernandes’ political journey that converge with the developing of a democratic education. For that, two main objectives are set: 1)Examine the proposals, projects and amendments presented by Florestan Fernandes between 1987 and 1995, As well as the stenographic notes of the plenary sessions, in order to identify elements that align with the concept of democratic education advocated by him; and, 2) identify and emphasize aspects of his political journey that strengthen the defense of a democratic education. Methodologically, the research is caractherized as a bibliographic and documentary analysis guided by the Laurence Bardin Content Analysis method. This method allowed the examination of documents and problematized one question: to what extent Florestan Fernandes’ actions as a federal deputy were aligned to the concept of democratic education which is present in his works about Brazilian education? The research demonstrated that the experience of a public, democratic, secular, high-quality school to all is primordial to democracy. In this sense “Once again called” is a continuous call to whom, just as Florestan Fernandes, have these perceptions regarding the school and the education