A reforma do Novo Ensino Médio (NEM) e o desmantelamento da educação política

Abstract

This work presents and critically discusses the results of qualitative research on the New High School (NEM, Novo Ensino Médio), particularly regarding its content and how it has been implemented by organized agents, who have long been steering public education policies in Brazil and their consequences. The research employs the theoretical framework of Michel Foucault, especially the concept of heterotopia, to understand the transformations in the school space and their implications for teaching practices, in addition to seeking to clarify the real interests of these corporate reformers behind the implementation of this reform, which gained momentum amid a crisis of hegemony, followed by the consolidation of a new period of organic crisis in Brazilian capitalism. The main objective was to investigate, from the perspectives of teachers in private schools of the Inspired and Salta Educação networks in Rio de Janeiro, the school as a heterotopic space emerging from the transformations brought by the New High School (NEM), focusing on the implications for Chemistry teaching practices and the quality of basic education. The methodology involved the production of a field diary, aiming to record the experiences and lived realities of her teaching practice, materializing them while allowing the materiality of the experience in the text to enable its rereading and analysis. Additionally, unstructured interviews with teachers were conducted between late 2023 and early 2025. In these interviews, participants shared "a moment that emotionally marked them regarding the NEM reform" and their views on this change. The methodological foundation was supported by the ideas of various authors, including, for example, Jorge Larrosa, Hess and Weigand, Veiga-Neto, and Deleuze, among others. From this empirical corpus, a book was developed as an educational product, in which the anxieties, insecurities, and frustrations experienced by teachers in this new curricular path were expressed through concrete poetry and cartoons, interspersed with photographic images taken on the Fundão campus of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). The book, titled "Teachers from All Corners, Unite", aims not only to represent a record of teaching experiences but also to serve as a tool for resistance and confrontation. By giving voice to teachers and making their struggles visible, this product seeks to inspire other educators to reflect on their contexts and to mobilize against policies that devalue their practice and compromise the quality of education.