Integrated education as a policy measure for social justice: the case of AET courses in Portugal and PROEJA in Brazil

ABSTRACT Based on a socio-critical framework, we reflect on two educational policies aimed at youth and adult education in Portugal and in Brazil, which illustrate the possibility of the State assuming its role of guaranteeing the right to education. It is concluded that these courses focus on the formation of students, providing them with both the right of access to historically constructed knowledge and a professionalization that allows them to act in the world of work and in the production of their subsistence; and, on the other hand, in a movement that compromises their existence, these courses are affected by government decisions or policies based on assumptions contrary to their foundations. A macro-analysis also shows that the ideological position of State governance is what defines decisions related to education.