FOR A DEMOCRATIC CURRICULAR AGENDA: WITH A FOCUS ON EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION FOR BRAZIL

Abstract

This essay performs a brief review of Brazilian pedagogical studies, published in the mid-twentieth century, aiming to build benchmarks for a democratic curricular agenda with a focus on educational innovation. The paradoxes of democracy, widely described by contemporary social theories, are taken as a contextual dimension, associated with the concern to develop pedagogical alternatives in a scenario of intensification of neoliberal and neoconservative policies in Brazil. We focus on the conceptual expansion of educational innovation juxtaposed to the milestones of democratic school governance, joining the political struggle around its meanings. The promotion of opportunities for students, dialogicity as content and method and the selection of relevant school knowledge are conceptual references, sought in the writings of Anísio Teixeira, Paulo Freire and Demerval Saviani that will serve as a basis for the reconstruction of democratic curricular practices in Brazil. By heterogeneous theoretical traditions, these authors offer critical and creative possibilities for the reconstruction of the democratic school in our country.