A abordagem do Ciclo de Políticas e o ensino regular de Língua Espanhola no estado do Paraná

This article aims to analyze the most recent educational policies concerning the regular teaching of Spanish Language in the state of Paraná, following the revocation, in 2017, of Federal Law No. 11.161/2005 (which had made the offering of Spanish language compulsory for all students in Brazilian high schools). The central objective of this research is to examine whether the Policy Cycle Approach (Ball & Bowe, 1992; Mainardes, 2006) may be relevant for studying issues related to the development of the Spanish Language Learning Path Yo en el Mundo, included in the state's Curricular Guidelines (Paraná, 2021a). To this end, we draw upon Ball and Bowe’s (1992) policy analysis contexts, guided by the following specific objectives: a) within the Context of Influence: to understand, among other aspects, the interest groups involved in formulating the policy that culminated in the production of the Spanish Language Learning Path; b) within the Context of Policy Text Production: to analyze the factors that influenced the writing of the Yo en el Mundo Learning Path; c) within the Context of Practice: to assess the various interpretations and disputes surrounding the implementation of the aforementioned normative text. Regarding the results, it was possible to confirm our research hypothesis, namely, that Ball and Bowe’s (1992) theoretical framework is appropriate for analyzing the Policy Cycle related to the aforementioned Learning Path. In brief, within the Context of Influence, we found that the strength of the state executive is highly relevant for the proposal of a particular policy. However, there are also other interest groups not directly tied to political or economic powers—such as higher education faculty members of Paraná’s GT-Espanhol (Spanish Working Group)—who may act as drivers of educational policy. In the Context of Policy Text Production, it becomes evident that not all voices that should participate in educational policy formulation are necessarily able to materialize their contributions in political-educational texts. Lastly, within the Context of Practice, we observed that the state executive sought to disseminate the significance of the new high school curricular configuration. Nevertheless, it displayed a technicist understanding of the presence of Spanish at this educational level—one oriented toward the demands of the labor market. However, other professionals in the field challenge this perspective, instead emphasizing the emancipatory, critical, and humanistic functions that foreign language learning can foster in Basic Education.