Rural teachers and social movements under formation: political struggles for rural schools in northwestern Rio de Janeiro state

Abstract

Closing rural schools is a scene that has become usual in many Brazilian states, a fact that forces rural communities to quit life in the country as the place for both living and existence reproduction. Rural schools in Northwestern Rio de Janeiro State take the same path of other Brazilian realities; in other words, they are the victims of activity canceling, which is an injustice supported by economic arguments. However, the implementation of the course named Interdisciplinary Major Degree in Rural Education, also known as LEdoC, at Fluminense Federal University (UFF), in Santo Antônio de Pádua City, RJ, opened room for a whole series of popular movements to cope with the rural exodus reality. Accordingly, the aim of the present study is to describe the path opened between 2015 and 2019 by UFF’s LEdoC and Santo Antônio de Pádua’s community for the Alternation Pedagogy in order to defend rural schools, based on the research-action methodology. The main results have highlighted the importance of the research-action methodology to reinforce the local demands and the process of reporting the alienation of rural populations from their right to education. Moreover, they have pointed towards the fact that popular social movements reinforce rural teachers’ formation by repairing public policies to question oppression situations in and outside education institutions.