Homeschooling no Brasil: implicações jurídicas e legislativas do julgamento do RE 888.815/RS pelo STF

Abstract

The present study intends to approach the discussion about the constitutionality of home education in Brazil, facing the main arguments presented in the votes of the ministers in the judgment of the Extraordinary Appeal 888.815/RS by the STF, and its reflections on the national legislation related to Homeschooling, na English term referring to the home education, which consists of a pedagogical modality in which children are taught directly by parents or guardians, or by tutors, always under parental supervision, carried out in the home environment. The main feature of the modality is the freedom to conduct the education of children and adolescents according to their abilities and limitations, with a view to promoting their development as individuals and citizens, as well as the cultivation of family values and principles. The lack of constitutional and legal treatment regarding homeschooling has not prevented Brazilian families from adopting the practice, which results in a situation of legal uncertainty for families that adhere to the practice. Since the 1990s, Bills regulating the method have been presented, but no federal law has ever been approved in both legislative houses. As a result of the legislative delay, the issue was continuously judicialized, until it was finally analyzed by the Federal Supreme Court in the judgment of an Extraordinary Appeal, dismissed by a judgment that considered the constitutionality of the homeschooling modality, but not endowed with self-applicability, for it is necessary prior elaboration of Federal Law by the National Congress. Since the judgment by the Supreme Court in 2018, a Bill of Law was approved in the Chamber of Deputies in 2022, which is still pending in the Federal Senate. In the meantime, there has been the enactment of municipal and state laws recognizing homeschooling at the local level, which has raised discussions about its constitutionality, especially regarding to the issue of legislative competence. In order to investigate the problem pointed out, the methodology used was the case study through jurisprudential, legislative, and bibliographical research techniques, carrying out jurisprudential analysis aligned with the analysis of constitutional and infraconstitutional legislation, with a view to carrying out a systematic teleological interpretation of the legal system national legal.