This article examines shifts in the meaning and relevance of institutionalised knowledge about social inequalities as it circulates globally. In so doing, it contributes to research critiquing an unequal geopolitics of knowledge that grants greatest authority to theories produced in the global north (Connell, 2007; Mignolo, 2003). I discuss the…

This article shows the intersections of right-wing conservative discourse and evangelical religious proselytism in shaping right-wing populist discourse in Brazil and its implications on the education policy in the last decade. Since re-democratisation in the 1980s, the policy path sought to guarantee progressive and inclusive public education,…

Through the critical feminist lens of intersectionality, this article examines how race, gender, and sexuality were contested through a process of curricular revision before the "Base Nacional Comum Curricular," the new Brazilian 'common core' curriculum known as the BNCC, became federal law in 2017. Drawing on interviews with professors…

We discuss oral history interviews with academics who laid the foundation of research and pedagogies in daycare for under three-year-olds in Europe and North and South America since the 1970s. Their work is clearly embedded in the social-political context of their country: the left-wing programmes for disadvantaged families in the U.S.A.;…

The focus in this article is on Brazilian education policy, specifically quality assurance and evaluation. The starting point is that quality, measured by means of large-scale assessments, is one of the key discursive justifications for educational change. The article addresses the questions of how quality evaluation became a significant feature…

The aim of this article is to analyse and show in detail the influence of the National Security and Development Doctrine, the main ideological prop of the 1964 civilian-military coup, on the education policy implemented by the regime. Special attention is given to the MEC-USAID agreements, the setting up of the Meira Matos Commission and the…

A vast amount of literature addresses issues surrounding English and French in colonial and post-colonial communities. However, relative to the spread of English and French language ideology, a limited amount of literature exists on Lusitanization (i.e. the spread of Portuguese colonial ideology by Portugal during colonialism and the role of…

Because higher education serves both public and private interests, the way it is conceived and financed is contested politically, appearing in different forms in different societies. What is public and private in education is a political--social construct, subject to various political forces, primarily interpreted through the prism of the state.…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to address its drastic socioeconomic inequality and to compel its higher education institutions to diversify significantly while democratizing access to those schools. Brazil recently passed a sweeping affirmative action law requiring its public universities to reserve half of their available spots for…

What accounts for the rapid growth in the For-Profit (FP) higher education sector in the US? How will its growth influence educational opportunity and degree attainment rates in a country that first pioneered a mass higher education built largely on expanding public colleges and universities? The current US experience is a version of what I call…

The paper analyses the status and characteristics of adult literacy campaigns and programmes since 2000. Global trends are analysed in terms of the ten key aspects of the suggested framework for successful literacy campaigns and programmes. Four case studies on major literacy campaigns in Brazil, India, South Africa and Indonesia are used to…

For-profit colleges and universities in the US have been growing at a staggering pace in enrollment, in profits, and in the corporate value of those traded on the New York Stock Exchange. From 2000 to 2010, the sector grew by some 235 percent in enrollment, increasing its market share from 3 to 9.1 percent of all tertiary enrolled students. What…

The goal of Education for All (EFA) is in jeopardy, and the cause is widely perceived to be a lack of political will. But we lack an accurate definition of political will. In this article, I offer a definition that determines beforehand whether a government will have political will. In contrast to current academic work and popular discourse, which…

Higher education in Brazil began based on institutions organized as isolated establishments, and mostly privately owned. Nonetheless, public institutions created as universities and developing research activities and other services became the desired ideal for higher education. The first educational institutions in Brazil were created in the…

Analyzes and compares approaches to literacy and the involvement of the community in literacy training in three Latin American countries: (1) Brazil, a capitalist economic framework; (2) Peru, with reform as an alternative to counter-insurgency measures; and (3) Nicaragua, a revolutionary society in transition. (JOW)