PRIVATIZED FROM THE INSIDE: A NETWORK ETHNOGRAPHY OF BRAZILIAN TEACHER EDUCATION POLICY UNDER THE WORKERS’ PARTY

The theory of a globally structured education agenda interrogates the political and economic systems that influence how states take on policy ideas. One way that globalizing processes may take place is through network governance, or via networks of people, ideas, researchers, governments, non-governmental organizations, private companies, etc. This study explores how power plays a role in the proliferation of particular policy ideas about teacher education in such networks. Brazilian education expanded greatly since the 1990s as did the demand for teachers of higher qualifications. Via network ethnography, this study examined the people, organizations, and ideas that influenced teacher education policy since the mid-1990s. Network ethnography is an emerging method and framework in international education research, and this study builds on what is understood about the role of corporations and other private enterprises in education policy. The results of this network ethnography revealed two primary coalitions, each of whose power over teacher education policy shifted with federal regime changes. One coalition, centered around the Brazilian Campaign for the Right to Education, frames teacher training and schooling as places to foster participatory democracy and build citizens. The other coalition, centered around the All for Education Movement, frames teacher training as a set of apolitical technical skills that should be provided in so-called proven and fiscally efficient ways. In light of these results, I argue that the dominant coalition, led by the All for Education Movement, which is backed by the business and financial sectors, steadily and consistently worked to solidify its place in the federal education policymaking arena throughout the time period under study and as a result governs teacher qualification and teacher training issues.