A educação de jovens e adultos na pandemia da COVID-19: desafios e estratégias da docência em uma escola estadual da Bahia

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic asserted the need to reflect on public education in Brazil, and about the multiple situations in which teachers and students found themselves during the period of health restrictions. This research aimed at understanding how teachers of Youth and Adult Education (EJA in its Portuguese acronym) of a State School taught between 2020 and 2022 and build a document with the practices and strategies recommended by teachers. The time frame encompasses the peak and easing of health measures to combat SARS-CoV-2 in Brazil. This is qualitative research with a participatory approach. We used semi-structured interviews as a data capture instrument, which is consistent with the premise of capturing knowledge contextualized with reality, demarcating its social and political implications. The research was seen as a formative and pedagogical practice by the researcher and participants. Teachers’ interviews were analyzed from the perspective of narrative analysis by Bastos and Biar (2015). The narratives that were analyzed were also part of the researcher’s experience as a teacher in the research. Overall, teacher investments made all the difference in the quality of teaching offered remotely. There was a lack of investment in infrastructure by the federal and local executive powers, and with the difficulties experienced by students in attending online classes, the pandemic amplified social inequalities, which are so striking in Brazil. Those who had better economic conditions experienced the health emergency more easily than those who were already living in precarious conditions before. In other words, we were not in the same boat, nor in the same sea, as a small portion of the population experienced the public calamity from the comfort of their homes, with the conveniences of digital platforms, while a large mass of salaried or informal workers lived with the uncertainties and drama of poverty amidst the chaos. The research’s focus on teachers was its strong point, but also one of its limitations, since it did not interview students and management of the school studied. However, investigations into the proposed topic do not end with this dissertation, which also generated a Technical-Technological Production (TTP) conceived as a listening and training device as a Documentary, organized based on interviews with the teachers. May this scientific work help teachers and researchers to expand their repertoire regarding Youth and Adult Education during the pandemic, and to develop other research and paths in this field that still lacks studies.