Discourse and subject in the Agenda 2030 for education: Implications for educational policies in Brazil

Abstract

Brazil, like many other Latin American countries, has faced increasing pressure to align its educational policies with those promoted by international organizations such as UNESCO, OECD, and the World Bank. In light of this context, the present paper seeks to: identify the meanings that emerge from the discourse of policy-influencing documents issued by these international agencies, particularly the Incheon Declaration and the Agenda 2030 for Education; examine how these meanings have linguistically materialized; and explore how such discourses function as mechanisms of governmentality in education shaping subjectivities. This analysis is grounded in post-critical studies, drawing particularly on Foucault’s conceptual framework concerning the archeogenealogical phase. The findings reveal that the discourse of international organizations is deeply intertwined with interests related to the labor market and human capital formation, highlighting the increasing involvement of the private sector in public education.