MST PEDAGOGY AND FULL-TIME POLICIES: CHALLENGES TO PEDAGOGICAL AUTONOMY AT THE SEZINIO FERNANDES DE JESUS SETTLEMENT SCHOOL

Abstract

This study analyzes the historical and pedagogical trajectory of the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST), using the experience of the Sezínio Fernandes de Jesus Settlement in Linhares (ES) as a case study. The research seeks to understand the factors that led to the transition from the Alternating School System to the full-time school model and how this change affects the organization of the institution, the work of educators, and the consolidation of the MST’s pedagogy. It also examines the adoption of the educational model proposed by the state, reflecting on its impacts on professional practices and on the relationship between scientific knowledge and the reality experienced by students and their families. It also identifies the community’s needs and the organization involved in the education of the individuals who make up this peasant territory. The theoretical framework is grounded in Rural Education, the MST’s pedagogy, and Freirean popular education, all guided by dialectical historical materialism. Among the main references are Freire (1987), Arroyo (2013), Caldart (2004), and Nosella (2012), as well as contemporary studies that discuss the tensions between emancipatory projects and full-time education policies. The research, which employs a qualitative approach and is descriptive-analytical in nature, utilizes participant observation, allowing the researcher to integrate into daily school and community life. The study seeks to understand the processes of resistance and preservation of the MST’s educational principles in the face of the implementation of a hegemonic model of education.