Educational Reproduction renewed: Intra-institutional Duality in the Open University of Brazil Program

Abstract

In this article, we analyze the Universidade Aberta do Brasil (UAB [Open University of Brazil]) program, the aim of which is to democratize the Brazilian educational system, through the distance education modality and its institutionalization in the University of Brasília (UnB). We question the democratizing intent of the program, based on contemporary theses that deal about the renewal of education reproduction dynamics and on the specialized literature already accumulated on the program in question. Precisely, we question whether the educational modality at issue becomes stratified, in a type of intra-institutional duality. For this, interviews were conducted with coordinators of undergraduate distance programs, seeking to analyze the several dimensions of the supposed intra-institutional duality generated by the program. A documental analysis was also conducted, aimed at complementing the understanding of the subject and reaching the goal of the research. A complex institutional scenario was found, with significant changes over the years of application of the program. However, it became clear that institutional and teaching operations, and community relations in distance programs, in several aspects, are marginal to face-to-face programs. After an analysis of the research results, it was concluded that the distance modality is confined to merely partial institutionalization and inclusion, reinforcing the thesis of the theory of reproduction in its most current version.