State public policies and the field of distance education: Disputes and perspectives around quality

Abstract

This text analyzes the relationship between state public policies and the formation of the distance education (DE) field in Brazil, highlighting the disputes and perspectives around its conceptualization and quality. Based on bibliographic and documentary research, as well as the examination of significant distance education indicators, this article examines the legal basis for the regulation of this modality and defends the regulation and expansion of academic and social quality within higher education, which includes a public, free, and inclusive DE, based on the same parameters. The authors conclude that, in addition to the formation and consolidation of this new field, which has specific habitus, agents, and disputes, there are currently clashes around its flexibility, (de)regulation, competitive self-regulation, conceptualization and academic and social quality, which have favored the mercantile private sector.