School occupations in Francisco Beltrão, Paraná: contributions for youth education

Abstract

The advancement of neoliberal policies and the intensification of class struggle have repercussions in education, as seen in 2015 and 2016. At first, it took place through education reforms carried out in various Brazilian states and through national public policies, such as the one related to high school and the proposed constitutional amendment known as PEC 55. In both cases, there was a student’s reaction by occupying schools. This paper reflects on the occupations carried out in 2016, in the state of Parana, particularly in the city of Francisco Beltrao. We aim to historicize and highlight its training feature. It is qualitative study and was brought up by us reading papers on the topic, analyzing documents and conducting interviews with eleven students. We present the process of school occupations in Brazil, which we consider from the temporal categories proposed by Groppo (2018). We also present how this process was experienced in Francisco Beltrao, revealing is training power and considering Paulo Freire’s contributions, for whom “the practice of freedom will only find adequate expression in a pedagogy in which the oppressed have ways of, reflexively, discover and conquer him or herself and as the subject of his or her own historical destiny.” (FIORI, 1987, p. 5).