The Policy Cycle Approach: a contribution to the analysis of field education policy in Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this article is to reflect on the challenges of analyzing the public policy of Field Education, considering possible contributions from Stephen Ball's Policy Cycle approach in interface with the specificities that make up the policy. Ball's proposal includes the following contexts: Context of influence, Context of text production and Context of practice. Based on a theoretical study carried out by means of a qualitative and exploratory bibliographic survey on the subject, this study problematizes how the Field Education policy has been dealt with in the Brazilian political-educational agenda from the different contexts pointed out in the theory of the Policy Cycle, highlighting contributions and limits to the analysis process, given the historical and conceptual singularity of the Field Education policy as a counter-hegemonic process. The conclusions point out that the possible contributions of the Policy Cycle to the analysis of Field Education policy can be useful in terms of pointing out scenarios, however, it lacks dynamics that allow them to be interconnected, considering the tensions and conflicts, not only within each context, but also in the structural basis in which they are found. However, due to their flexibility, they indicate a critical openness to articulating unique realities and experiences, such as rural education, especially by indicating elements that can become steps for methodological construction.