THE EXPANSION OF FULL-TIME EDUCATION IN BRAZIL

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the expansion of full-time education in Brazil, considering its conceptual foundations, normative frameworks, and the challenges surrounding its implementation as an educational policy oriented toward students’ integral education. The study is grounded in the distinction between integral education and full-time education, discussing how these concepts have been mobilized within the context of Brazilian public educational policies. The research is characterized as bibliographic and documentary, adopting a qualitative approach based on the analysis of scientific articles, dissertations, theses, and normative documents published predominantly since the 2000s. The discussion examines the main legal instruments that support the expansion of the school day, with emphasis on the National Education Guidelines and Framework Law, the National Education Plan, and Law No. 14,640/2023, which established the Full-Time School Program. The analysis indicates that, although the expansion of full-time education has advanced from both normative and quantitative perspectives, its implementation remains uneven across regions, educational systems, and levels of basic education, being strongly conditioned by factors related to funding, school infrastructure, and teachers’ working conditions. The findings suggest that the extension of school time, when not accompanied by curricular reorganization and adequate institutional conditions, tends to be reduced to a mere extension of the traditional school routine. It is concluded that the consolidation of full-time education as a public policy requires articulation among time, curriculum, funding, and school management, as well as the overcoming of structural inequalities that permeate the Brazilian educational system.