A meagre education:

the political-pedagogical project of the high school reform

Abstract

The text discusses the current reform of secondary education, the result of research carried out in the state school system of Espírito Santo. The main argument is that the reform represents a project that restricts young people's access to higher education and regulates their permanence in secondary education, deepening inequalities and school exclusion. The analysis is based on a documentary study and reflections based on empirically collected data. The educational reform expresses a rejuvenation of the Human Capital Theory with a new alliance between economics and psychology, and is a project that denies teachers the right to work and students the right to education. Public schools are being pressurised to reduce their size and their modus operandi; a shrinking education.