The relationship between knowledge and empowerment of elderly people in schooling processes

ABSTRACT This paper aims to identify the relationship between knowledge and elderly people enrolled in the Youth and Adult Education of the Núcleo de Estudos da Terceira Idade [Center of Studies for the Old Age] of the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. It was essential to record/highlight the voice of each elderly person because when they talked about themselves and, simultaneously, about others and things, made it possible to the scientific study to point out the dimensions of schooling to the life of the elderly people, especially when seeking to understand which relationships established with learning can contribute to their emancipatory empowerment process. This is a qualitative study with exploratory characteristics that dialogues with theorists such as Freire, Charlot, Bosi, Lisboa, among others; in addition to the support of legal and educational guidance documents. The main results point to the fact that in the life of the elderly education comes as a possibility to perceive themselves as people who have knowledge and culture; notably by having a positive attitude towards aging, translating into a desire to share knowledge and feelings, to be the protagonist of their history and to have recognition and be appreciated by their family and the society.