Machine-competence: the BNCC and the formation of neoliberal human capital

Abstract

Although the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC) is a document of a normative nature, it is quite contradictory, given that it was promulgated at a time of deep political crisis in Brazil, which culminated in an impeachment process that deposed President Dilma Rousseff. In any case, the fact is that this document was approved and has been reconfiguring the curricula of Brazilian basic education, aligning it with the standards projected by the economic powers of the global North. Given this, the following driving research question emerged: What subject does the BNCC aim to produce in contemporary neoliberal times? The objective outlined in the investigation is to problematize the subjective production engendered by BNCC, relating it to contemporary times, marked by globalized neoliberalism. The present study was developed on a post-structuralist epistemological basis and used documentary and bibliographical research strategies to carry out an archaeogenealogical analysis. The analyzes make it possible to conclude that the National Common Curricular Base aims to produce a subject with skills and competencies that are interesting to the market. That is, it aims to produce a self-independent subject, homo oeconomicus, who can be thought of as a machine-competence, someone who participates in the game without questioning the rules, legitimizing them. The BNCC, thus, reduces education to the formation of human capital and empties it of its power.