Curricularization of university extension and popular education

the culture circles at the School of Social Work / UFF – Niterói

Abstract

This article addresses popular education as a pedagogical strategy in public higher education, focusing on the curricularization of extension activities in the Social Work course at UFF/Niterói. It starts from the problem that higher education has historically reproduced educational practices aligned with the logic of capital, restricting the critical and emancipatory potential of alternative pedagogical approaches in academic training. The objective is to analyze the process of curricularizing extension activities at the School of Social Work at UFF/Niterói, through the experience with Culture Circles, their emphasis on popular education, and theirdialogue with the Course Project. The analysis seeks to emphasize that popular education can challenge established practices in universities and contribute to the training of critical professionals attuned to a perspective of a popular university. The central hypothesis is that the incorporation of popular education, through university extension, especially in Culture Circles, favors the construction of critical and dialogical knowledge, in contrast to the technocratic and fragmented logic, and that the curricularization of extension can enable this process if done from a perspective of totality. The theoretical-methodological approach is based on critical social theory, the ethical-political project of Social Work, and Freirean pedagogy. In addition to theoretical reflection, this article is based on experiences as facilitators in Culture Circle meetings. As a result, it is highlighted that Culture Circles have provided horizontal and creative formative spaces, but that they are not immune to the harmful effects of ultra-neoliberal practices in terms of resources for carrying out extension and the working conditions of teachers. Therefore, a holistic perspective is necessary when addressing this issue, since discussing the curricularization of extension activities involves its inseparability from teaching and research, as well as a critical analysis of the impact of ultraneoliberal restructuring on Brazilian educational policy.