Avaliação em profundidade da política de expansão da rede federal na implantação do IFCE – Campus Acaraú

Abstract

The Federal Network Expansion Policy began in 2003, expanding from 140 to 644 the number of units by the year 2016. The Acaraú campus, created in 2010, is the research object of this dissertation that evaluated the process of implementation of this public policy in the municipality, critically discussing the format of Technical Vocational Education adopted and considering what the basic documents of this policy advocate, the potentialities of the region and its Local Productive Arrangements and the socioeconomic reality of the students. For that, it started from a qualitative research approach, having as methodological reference the Depth Evaluation, developed in four axes of analysis: 1) content analysis; 2) context analysis; 3) institutional trajectory analysis and 4) temporal and territorial spectrum analysis. Through bibliographic, documentary research and semi-structured interviews with IFCE managers, municipal managers and students, it was possible to understand both the contradictory context in which the Policy was managed, and the nuances of the implementation process, involving the dispute of different rationalities in decision-making processes, such as the “political force” on the one hand and the “rationality of results” on the other. It also identified that in this process different conceptions of professional education converge and diverge, highlighting the contradictory character of an educational institution within the capitalist system, sometimes reinforcing the marketing aspect in which education has been configured, sometimes rescuing the dimension of law concerning education and its role in the class struggle. Having as theoretical framework authors who critically discuss education from a Marxist perspective, the research points out that only the creation of new units of the Federal Network and the expansion of the offer of courses is not enough to guarantee access to education. It is necessary first to discuss the model of education offered by these institutions; if they are geared to meet the demands of capital or if they are geared to the interests of the working class. Second, recognizing that the success of the Policy in achieving its objectives depends on its articulation with other policies, such as employment and income policies and student assistance, because only education alone cannot change the social inequality produced by the mode of reproduction of capitalism.