Secondary education and training for work Proposals and narratives of recent reforms in the Spanish and Brazilian educational systems

Abstract

This article points out aspects of the recent Spanish educational reform related to secondary education, which coincides with the intentionality present in the Brazilian secondary education reform, and proposes a reflection on the relations between education and capital. This is not a comparative study but an effort to identify the propositions and justifications present in the two reforms that announce a common purpose of adapting the workforce to the new production and labour demands. In this process, the participation of private companies in educational systems decisions can be observed. In addition to the interests in public funds and in the adjustment of educational training to the purposes of capital, we seek to understand the intentions and mechanisms present in these reforms, according to the concepts of “segmentation” and “systematisation” presented by Ringer and Müller, when investigating some European countries secondary education implementation, in the context of industrialisation, pointing the binding between educational systems and interests of class maintaining and reproducing, through distinct and fragmented offers. The German system is the most relevant for this article because, despite the updates, maintains structural aspects and is also a reference for other European systems, including Spanish, discussed here.