A centralidade das competências socioemocionais nas políticas curriculares contemporâneas no Brasil

Abstract

The thesis aims to understand how social-emotional competencies operate within the school curriculum and to which mechanisms these competencies respond. It is understood that the power technique of contemporary neoliberalism acquires a subtle and intelligent form, because it invests in the emotions and in its productive force. Nowadays, entrepreneurial criteria for emotional life have been introduced into everyday life. Thus, a scenario of emotional capitalism is characterized, in which economic and emotional discourses seem to shape each other, transforming the emotions into public microspheres. To a certain extent, here the emotions are emptied, once they are transformed into objects. From this centrality in the individual, we find an emphasis on the conduct of the students; hence, a shift on affection seems to be a key axis in contemporary policies and debates regarding the schooling process. The scenario outlined above constitutes the present and becomes a prerequisite for answering the following question: how do socio-emotional competencies operate within the school curriculum and to what mechanisms do they respond? To this end, the analytical materials of this research are composed of documents originating from national and international organizations, such as the Ayrton Senna Institute (IAS), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and Economic Development (OECD), in a total of 12 documents (articles, summaries, information, studies). Three norms from the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) were also used: National Curricular Parameters of 1997 and 1998, and the National Curricular Common Base. The results of the research are that: 1) the way in which social-emotional competencies have been presented puts school knowledge in second place, reflecting the progressive psychologization and consolidation of the contemporary therapeutic ethos; 2) the analysis identified an expansionist movement of the functions of the school, denoting to it the task of solving systemic problems; 3) and, finally, the analysis showed how much the emotions today are not only stratified but also stratify the individuals. This way of understanding emotions nowadays takes as a project the formation of a resilient and performatic “new man”; it would be the school institution’s role to forge it within its walls.