The paulista curriculum (2020) as ontological architecture

a freirean critical analysis of the paradigms of being in the São Paulo curriculum

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the ontological construction implicit in the Currículo Paulista (2020) and its intentions. Starting from the conception of the curriculum as a field of disputes that impact the ontological formation of social beings, it is worth asking: which ontological conception does the Currículo Paulista (2020) propose to develop? To answer the question, qualitative research methodology was used with document analysis, taking the critical study of Norman Fairclough's speech, (2001) as a tool for understanding documents as a materialization of social, historical and ideological conflicts. In this way, we started with Michael Apple's (2006) conception of the curriculum as a field of ideological disputes and Paulo Freire's (2019) with the ontology of “being more” to understand the impacts of the neoliberal discourse on the ontological formation of São Paulo students. It was concluded, therefore, that the ontology developed throughout the Currículo Paulista (2020) document is strongly committed to the formation of social beings adjusted to capital for the market, with the ideology of “entrepreneurship” as a central element for ontological formation of students as “self-entrepreneurs”. Thus, the official curriculum document operates as an ideological instrument in training, constituting an “ontological architecture”.