National System of Education and Challenges of the Field Education Two Decades After Its Institution as a Modality

Objective: To establish interrelations between the current context of the school education offered to the countryside people in Brazil - the Education of the Countryside - and aspects of the inconclusive process of consolidation of the National Education System. Theoretical Reference: Contributions are adopted by authors who analyze the issue of Rural Education from counter-hegemonic perspectives and establish interrelations with political, economic and cultural aspects, in local, regional, national and/or transnational contexts. Method: It is a bibliographical and documentary study, based on academic productions representative in the debate of the area and federal documents related to the Education of the Field. Results and Discussion: Starting from an analysis of the historical process of national education, it is concluded that the educational policies implemented in the present day by different federated entities undermine the right to education of the peoples of the countryside and make unfeasible the process of building an effective and democratic National Education System, after more than two decades of the institution of the Education of the Countryside as a modality of school education, a fact that negatively affects or makes unfeasible the effectiveness of the right to contextualized education for the schools of the countryside, as determined by federal legislation. Research Implications: This study aims to contribute to discussions about Field Education, a pressing and current theme, which demands more research in order to provide data to broaden its understanding, both from the perspective of past and present time.