Introduction

This paper deals with the curriculum change that the Ministry of Education approved for High School and the impacts that such measures cause to students’ learning regarding the disciplines of Arts/Philosophy/Sociology in the State of Paraná, Brazil, resulting from the reduction, as early as 2021, of the workload of these disciplines. This is an anticipation carried out in the state of Paraná in relation to the new High School program. A conjuncture analysis makes it possible to realize that, although it does not specifically deal with High School reform, in this paper, it is essential to understand the issue based on the logic in force in a neoliberal society that privileges the accumulation of capital of large capitalist corporations. The advent of the High School reform will generate a profound impact on the education of the poorer population, which will have reduced their ability to contact content capable of providing them with a critical education of social reality.

In this context, there is the risk of generating an unequal school: one for the most socially favored, which will have a broader education and will follow on to university studies; and another, at the second level, for the less privileged layer, already sent to High School for technical training, who will be placed directly into the labor market. Preliminarily, we cannot condemn the preparation for the labor market, but in a democratic society, access to public Higher Education should also be democratized. In the case of Brazil, when we analyze the text of the Common Core State Standards – called in Brazil Base Nacional Comum Curricular (BNCC), we can realize that, in many ways, we see it as step backwards to Law no. 5,692, of August 11, 1971, which provided for the issue of the primacy of the training of professionals fit for the labor market (Brazil, ¹⁹⁷¹). In practice, it is thought of as a Basic Education for the poor, focused on the job market, and one for those of better conditions, focused on broad training with a view to entering university. In this text, through a literature review, we will initially reflect on the High School reform. Subsequently, we will enter the context of field research, which counted on 31 teachers of Arts/Philosophy/Sociology who agreed to participate in the research.

The data were organized and analyzed based on the Textual and Discourse Analysis, through which four categories emerged that concern the reduction of the workload of Arts/Philosophy/Sociology: need to select content/learning lag; time/class shortage for the development of the critical capacity of students; loss of the essence of the discipline. In short, reduced class time impacts student learning.

Literature review

In this paper, we emphasize the impact on students’ learning due to the reduction of the workload of the Arts/Philosophy/Sociology disciplines, and also on the teaching professional development of the teachers of these disciplines. Day (²⁰⁰¹) points out that, when working conditions are not satisfactory, stress compromises the health and professional development of teachers. From this perspective, the author clarifies that “[…] teachers who reveal ‘malaise’ transmit significantly less information and fewer positive reinforcements to students” (Day, ²⁰⁰¹, p. 39). How can a professional maintain motivation at work by taking 30 classes? (In the case of the state of Paraná, teachers of these subjects had to assume this workload). Day (²⁰⁰¹, p. 43) affirms that “[…] what students feel about the environment in which they study and their teaching relationship affects their interest, motivation and results”.

What was not evidenced during the BNCC (Brazil, ²⁰¹⁸) discussion process is why some disciplines were considered central and others peripheral (although textually, the BNCC does not explain this hierarchy between the disciplines, but only Portuguese language, Modern Foreign language and Mathematics are considered mandatory), to the point that the state of Paraná, from 2021 on, has reduced the Arts/Philosophy/Sociology disciplines to a weekly class.

Still on the relationship between work conceptions, professional development and student learning, Day (²⁰⁰¹, p. 43) points out that “[…] teachers’ professional development has to be built based on the teacher’s ‘passionate vocation’, encouraging and maintaining their motivation and enthusiasm, not only to be a professional, but to act as a professional throughout the career”. From this perspective, it is essential that the state offers teachers structural working conditions, preserving the health of the education professionals. Reducing the workload of Arts/ Philosophy/ Sociology subjects eventually affected teachers and students in the learning process and, in addition, made it difficult and compromised the professional development and health of teachers. In 2021, the three disciplines were the only ones that suffered the reduction of the workload in the context of the state of Paraná.

According to Koepsel et al. (²⁰²⁰), the construction of Law no. 13,415, of February 16, 2017 (Brazil, ²⁰¹⁷), BNCC (Brazil, ²⁰¹⁸) and the National Curriculum Guidelines for High School (Brazil, ¹⁹⁹⁸), did not occur democratically, with a broad debate with society seeking to deepen reflections on the relevance of a reform that put knowledge of the subjects in a hierarchy. The authors criticize the defense of youth protagonism, because young people have not even been heard, and the whole process that young people will opt for formative itineraries is demagogic, because, according to Koepsel et al. (²⁰²⁰, p. 4), “[…] the dream and will of each subject, as proclaimed, can only be cultivated from certain conditions”.

Jolandek et al. (²⁰²¹), in research with 106 Math teachers, point to the need for curricula update which is not always easy to perform. The research showed that approximately one in three teachers did not realize the challenges of the BNCC implementation, but most responding educators understood that there seems to be a BNCC alignment with the content required in large-scale evaluations. The authors were able to see situations of insecurity by educators, in view of the BNCC’s imposing process, without a broad debate with the school community, given the implementation of the BNCC occurred by Provisional Act. In the view of Jolandek et al. (²⁰²¹), even in relation to Mathematics content, there would be a need for a broader debate, more dialogue and reflections at the time of fixing the basic content defined by the BNCC.

Adrião and Peroni (²⁰¹⁸, p. 50) systematically question the interference of private financial institutions in the definition of educational public policies and claim that such policies are materialized “[…] in public education privatization strategies”. It is noteworthy that many advocate the partnership between public institutions and private institutions in the educational scope. In fact, just as there are large networks of companies managing Higher Education, there is also a great interest that the State will fund Basic Education and Basic Education leaves the scope of public institutions. It is education being evaluated as a merchandise. It is the advancement of neoliberalism in which capital now defends its interests in the educational scope, decimating public education.

Lotta et al. (²⁰²¹) conducted an analysis of High School reform in Brazil and realized that, instead of aspirations for changes arising from states, the change is caused in Brazil by the Provisional Act no. 746, of September 22, 2016 (Brazil, ²⁰¹⁶), from the Temer administration (it is important to consider that the BNCC began to be implemented in the Dilma administration, but there was also consultation with Education professionals). In the words of Lotta et al. (²⁰²¹, p. 405): “On the one hand, the reform led the context of policy to a high conflict, as it was approved and established by a government not legitimized by a portion of the society”. In this sense, the conflicted environment in the implementation of the New High School was already planned, but we do not find literature reflections that contribute to assessing the reason for hierarchy of disciplines, except to think about the issue of external considerations that focus on learning Portuguese language and Mathematics.

After these initial considerations of theoretical discussions on the New High School and their impact on the education of future generations, we highlight the research we conducted, starting with its characterization as qualitative research. According to the BNCC, the focus of education must be in the development of skills, defined “[…] as mobilization of knowledge (concepts and procedures), skills (practices, cognitive and socio-emotional), attitudes and values to resolve complex demands of daily life, of the full exercise of citizenship and the world of work” (Brazil, ²⁰¹⁸, p. 8). Skills, in a synthetic way, are: 1. Knowledge; 2. Scientific, critical and creative thinking; 3. Cultural repertoire; 4. Communication; 5. Digital Culture; 6. Work and life project; 7. Argumentation; 8. Self-knowledge and self-care; 9. Empathy and cooperation; 10. Responsibility and citizenship.

Regarding the legal frameworks that underlie the BNCC, we found Art. 205 of the 1988 Brazilian Federal Constitution, in which it appears that, to fulfill its task, the Brazilian nation must set minimum contents for the formation of Basic Education (Brazil, ¹⁹⁸⁸). It also underlies the BNCC Art. 9, item IV, of the National Education Guidelines and Framework Law (known in Brazil by the acronym LDB) – Law no. 9,394, of December 20, 1996 –, which provides that, although curricula are diverse, skills and guidelines must be common (Brazil, ¹⁹⁹⁶). LDB also advises that essential learning be respected throughout the national territory (Brazil, ¹⁹⁹⁶).

The concept of competence, widely exploited worldwide with regard to the development of skills to be developed in the students, is adopted by the BNCC. Students, according to the BNCC, should “know” and should also “know how to do” (Brazil, ²⁰¹⁸). In this sense, “[…] the explanation of competences offers references to the strengthening of actions that ensure the essential learning defined in the BNCC” (Brazil, ²⁰¹⁸, p. 13).

Breaking with reductionist views, the BNCC affirms its commitment to integral education, promoting a broad formation and favoring democracy and overcoming any and all prejudice. Given the plurality of ideas and cultures in Brazil, BNCC works with basic content and skills aimed at ensuring minimal and equal training for all students in a given federation. At the same time, it respects the diversity and specificities of each region. Thus, to fulfill its pedagogical objectives, the aims of BNCC, among other elements, are: contextualization of knowledge; decision on the importance of interdisciplinarity; formative evaluation that takes into account learning contexts; permanent teacher training processes.

However, among the criticism of the BNCC, Silva (²⁰²⁰) points to the concepts of neoproductivism, neoescolanovism and neoconstructivism, which are an expression of neoliberal impacts on education. Thus, the author presents how the neoliberal scenario directly impacts the restructuring of education and resumes technicist ideals of Law no. 5,692/1971. Drawing from Gramsci, Silva (²⁰²⁰) understands the importance of avoiding a dual school that is different for rich and poor. From this perspective, we have one of the approaches of critics of the BNCC and the New High School, who point out that private schools will continue to emphatically teach the contents that are charged in the university entrance exam. In this sense, it is important to emphasize the differences and inequalities between those who leave public schools and those who are graduates of private education.

Limaverde (²⁰¹⁵) also denounces a false promise that there is a minimum curriculum, composed from neoliberal perspectives and that “[…] would be the main catalyst for the promise of equitable qualification for the labor market” (Limaverde, ²⁰¹⁵, p. 85). The author, in her conclusions, presents that minorities were not attended, such as quilombolas, indigenous people and other minority groups in the construction of the BNCC. The author criticizes the mathematization of the curriculum and the indexes of external evaluations, which do not contribute to the improvement of public education.

Laval (²⁰⁰⁴, p. 12) points out that, from 1980 onwards, “[…] appears a conception both more individualistic and more market of school”. Thus, we can argue that the advent of the BNCC is one of the facets of the predominance of capital over the educational sphere as large capitalist conglomerates come to intervene directly in education. Laval (²⁰⁰⁴) reports that, from 1950 onwards, the university-company that has profit as a goal using as marketing “scientific efficiency” emerged in the United States. According to Laval (²⁰⁰⁴), we have in the international scenario a “world education market” that advocates to everyone the idea that schools are companies, that students are clients and that the purpose of the school and university institution is to prepare for the job market.

We conducted these critical considerations regarding the BNCC and Laval’s (²⁰⁰⁴) considerations to conceptually contextualize what happened in the state of Paraná with the reduction of the disciplines of Arts/ Philosophy/ Sociology has to do with a process of installation of a pragmatism in content selection from the context of the High School reform. Such pragmatism stems from a mistaken view that considers school institutions as companies. In this sense, after all, what would be the usefulness of the disciplines of Arts/ Philosophy/ Sociology in the curriculum? In a neoliberal perspective, none. It is reduced to only one weekly class precisely to make the teaching of these disciplines compromised and expand the idea that these disciplines should disappear from the curriculum.

Qualitative nature of research

Esteban (2010), in its epistemological reflections, understands the difficulty in establishing a definition on the nature of qualitative research. If we make a literature review about the terms, we find understandings that imply a broad number of approaches that are called “qualitative”. However, despite this multifaceted comprehension of what could be understood as qualitative research, Esteban (²⁰¹⁰, p. 127) clarifies that: “Qualitative research is a systematic activity oriented to an in depth understanding of educational and social phenomena, transforming socio-educational practices and scenarios, decision making and also the unfolding and development of an organized body of knowledge”.

Some definitions of Bogdan and Biklen (¹⁹⁹⁴) on the characteristics of qualitative research are: in qualitative investigation the direct source of data is the natural environment, constituting the researcher the main instrument; qualitative investigation is descriptive – the data collected are in the form of words or images rather than numbers; qualitative researchers are more interested in the process than simply in results or products (Bogdan & Biklen, ¹⁹⁹⁴).

The research was conducted through a questionnaire inserted in Google Docs and sent to approximately 150 Arts/Philosophy/Sociology teachers, which was answered by 31 teachers. The survey was open to welcome responses for two months in the second half of 2021. Collection of participants’ emails was due to interaction in the “Paraná Humanities” group of WhatsApp.

The inclusion criteria of research participants were effective by being teachers, whether they were chosen by competitive examination or hired from the Paraná State Teaching Network, who were working at the time and in the classroom during the year 2021. In addition to the questions of characterization of research subjects, the other questions of the questionnaire were: 1. What are the impacts of reducing the workload of the discipline of Philosophy or Sociology or Arts for your teaching performance? 2. Did you have to assume various disciplines different from yours? How was this experience? 3. Was there any dialogue from your employer before reducing the workload of the discipline of Arts/Philosophy/Sociology? 4. What are the impacts on student learning in these subjects? 5. What is your opinion on the implementation of the New High School? 6. What is your perception of this context of changes in the state of Paraná?

After data collection, the analysis of the methodology followed the Textual and Discourse Analysis. Data categorization was mediated by the Atlas TI software with the help of which we were able separate data into categories for further analysis and discussion with the theoretical framework that underlies our research. Moraes and Galiazzi (²⁰¹¹, p. 7) propose a discursive methodology for the analysis of data aimed at “[…] producing new understandings about phenomena and discourses”. Procedurally, according to the methodology presented, we have three parts: disassembly of texts, establishment of relationships and grasp of new developments. Our analysis was based on the division of data into four emerging categories, namely:

● Category 1: Need to select content/learning lag.

● Category 2: Decreased students’ critical capacity.

● Category 3: Loss of the essence of the discipline.

● Category 4: Reduced class time impacts student learning.

Characterization of research subjects

In the case of the characterization of research subjects, we highlight, in the tables that follow, the aspects of the discipline the teacher works on, the way that the teacher was hired, number of years that the subject has been working as a teacher and specialization in the area in which he/she works. Table 1 summarizes the area of expertise of the research respondents.

As for how the teacher entered school, chosen by competitive examination prevailed, as shown in Table 2.

The number of years that the subject has been working as a teacher was another element that was asked. No teacher stated a period of less than five years; the others, in descending order of respondents, stated the way Table 3 shows.

An important element evidenced in the characterization of research subjects is that all teachers have a teaching degree in the discipline in which they are working, which exemplifies the relevance of the course for their teaching. In the scenario of Philosophy and Sociology, upon their return to the curriculum, there were initially few teachers qualified to act in the discipline, thus, in the face of such a scenario, there is an improvement of the framework in the context of formation in the discipline itself. On the one hand, it is noticeable that teachers work in the areas of their specific training, being a positive aspect of education in the state of Paraná; on the other hand, the drastic reduction of the discipline of Arts/Philosophy/Sociology demotivates teachers in their professional development process.

As for the question of being licensed and expert in the area in which they work, 26 participants answered yes (83.9%), and five participants responded no (16.1%). We realize, therefore, that, in addition to being licensed in their respective areas, teachers have, for the most part, specialization.

Results presentation

Four categories emerged from the data analysis, as we pointed out earlier. We will initially deal with the first category: Need to select contents/learning lag. In this category, we will see the perception of teachers of Arts/Philosophy/Sociology who evaluate as extremely negative the reduction of the workload of these subjects, not only in view of the issue of teaching professional development itself, but also the negative results in student learning.

According to the teachers, in the context of only one class per week of each subject, it is very difficult to continue the studies. Based on the following words, the decision without consultation with the school community of reducing the classes of the subjects mentioned eventually impacted the quality of students’ learning.

P1: With only one class per week and associated with the pandemic itself it is very difficult to handle all the curriculum demands. So I see myself having to “select” some content over others.

P4: Fragmented, superficial learning.

P5: Undermined education. Less interactive and dialogic classes… shallower. Greater disregard for the discipline.

P6: Learning will be delayed. And this will have an impact on student education, as a citizen.

P8: Students will not have access and/or in depth knowledge in various Arts’s contents and/or artistic techniques.

P10: The reduction of subjects greatly affected the learning process, as it created a barrier to the involvement of students to the proposed learning situations. Learning requires time, so when this is taken away, the impact is immense.

We realized, by the words of the teachers, the infeasibility of learning the disciplines of Arts/Philosophy/Sociology with this attitude of the maintainer during the year 2021. As P10 affirmed, the impact is immense, and learning will be compromised. In this sense, we emphasize the contribution of these disciplines in the formation of critical thinking of future generations.

Koepsel et al. (²⁰²⁰) criticize the hierarchy of disciplines without an epistemological foundation of justifications to prioritize some disciplines over others. Emphasis on training for the labor market is a strong indication that there is the possibility of a dual secondary school in which the poorest are immediately trained for the labor market in public schools; and, in the private network, future generations are trained to study in universities.

The neoliberal system creates constant situations of inequality for the poorest, and, with the false slogan of youth protagonism, students will be attributed “[…] the perverse consequences of this tendency that would be charged to the young subject himself ‘by the wrong choice’ of a certain ‘life project’” (Koepsel et al., ²⁰²⁰, p. 11). We clarify that, with the implementation of the New High School, the subjects of Arts/Philosophy/Sociology will continue with a lower workload compared to what they had before the proposed New High School: of the six classes they had in High School in the current conjuncture of the state of Paraná, in 2022, there are only two mandatory ones – a considerable reduction.

Regarding the second category, which deals with the reduction of students’ critical capacity, we observed the importance of the disciplines of Arts/Philosophy/Sociology in contributing to all other disciplines to form critical citizens who are able to look at the world in a way that goes beyond common sense. It is noteworthy that all the disciplines of the curriculum have the potential to awaken the young to critical consciousness, but, in a specific way, the disciplines mentioned in this research have a particular contribution to the formation of the critical spirit of future generations. The question is as follows: Why only did they have their load reduced? Teachers’ words about this category were:

P2: Decrease in argument capacity and critical sense.

P12: […] especially in this political conjuncture, students miss the opportunity to improve their critical gaze at reality.

P13: Low reflection on the part of students who have less time for provoking classes to think.

P15: In the conception of my area, we currently have students that fear speaking in public, aesthetic vision was undermined without knowing how to deal with it, and with much more atrophied bodies regarding the movement.

P18: Disregard and reduction of time implies the reduction of content and critical formation as well. The impact is negative because it decreases access to the discipline.

P20: Less knowledge… less reflective capacity… more scientific distancing.

P22: The cognitive and critical part is undermined by this reduction.

P27: I think of Sociology as a space for reflection on world issues. It is much more than passing on concepts. Many of my colleagues use this classroom space in this way. In this sense, the biggest loss is this reflective space, greater than content. In the year before these subjects were cut, they already put only one class a week in the classroom. And it paid off, they were able to deal with all the content. But with that remote interaction, there was no space for projects, for debates, to understand the reality that students bring, there were no ambitions to reconsider the space for transformations. That’s what it loses the most. That same year, they even selected names for the Multidisciplinary Team Project, the school project that deals with ongoing training for teachers on teaching the history of black and indigenous populations. They just called, but they didn't do anything, no tests to fill in online, nothing at all. It is a complete deflation of the interactive and reflective school space.

From the words of the teachers in this category, we realized how negative the reduction in the workload of Arts/Philosophy/Sociology was, especially in the sense of how much these subjects contribute to the critical improvement of High School students. We are at risk of a new totalitarianism (given the choice of instrumental reason over criticism) in the world, and these disciplines, as relevant as the others of the curriculum, are an antidote for students to become alienated subjects and that contribute for a critical analysis of society, avoiding ways of a totalitarian thinking and disrespect for the dignity of the human person.

Jolandek et al. (²⁰²¹) present that, even regarding the implementation of the BNCC regarding the discipline of Mathematics, there are great challenges to be overcome. If this research has revealed discrepancies in adapting Mathematics content, which is a compulsory discipline in the BNCC, we can imagine how arbitrary it was in relation to Arts/Philosophy/Sociology disciplines, whose reduction occurred in advance in the state of Paraná in 2021. Jolandek et al. (²⁰²¹) cite the fact that the disciplinary contents of Mathematics were aligned with what is demanded in large-scale assessments. Perhaps this is also the reason why the three subjects, whose presence in the curriculum we are discussing, were drastically reduced without any reflection with the school community in the state of Paraná during 2021.

Subsequently, on the third category, which concerns the loss of the essence of the disciplines, the Arts/Philosophy/Sociology teachers had, in 2021, a minimum of classes in which they should also perform two evaluations and recoveries during a term. We point out, therefore, that the referred disciplines have limited time for the development of the content, being undermined and losing its essence as knowledge. It is not our focus only to defend these disciplines in isolation, but to express that the whole of the curriculum with the different knowledge that needs to be preserved so that respect for the integral formation of students prevails. Next, we present the words of the teachers whose speeches were integrated into the third category:

P3: Art, at many times, when it was part of the curriculum, was in the classroom as a moment of creation and expression, and that was its differential in comparison to other disciplines. Without these moments, the essence of art is lost.

P7: They get frustrated because when the topic during class becomes more interesting, the class is over. It’s all in a rush and they miss the warmth of discussions about the contents. Certainly, they are learning less, but it is difficult to prove with data, as we are in a pandemic, and we are practically forced to teach.

P11: […] an intellectual cognitive lag related to social, moral problems etc.

P23: It’s big, because the contents have to be passed on in a very reduced way. This decreases the absorption capacity of the students.

P26: Decreased student contact with Art teachers, the contents need to be worked on superficially, because the time we once had in the classroom was reduced.

In this category, we observed the teachers’ perception of the students’ learning lag in the subjects of Arts/Philosophy/Sociology as a result of the reduced workload in 2021 in the state of Paraná. The contents ended up being passed on in a reduced form. Teachers failed to work all the contents planned for each grade, given that the workload was reduced by 50%. In addition, it is worth mentioning the strain on teachers (although this issue is not the subject of this paper) in being able to meet the demands of 30 classes with Philosophy classes. Considering 40 students per class, each teacher, when assuming 40 hours of class, is responsible for 1,200 students. It is a condition that dehumanizes and is, pedagogically, unfeasible.

Therefore, how to understand such changes in the curriculum scenario in public education in Paraná? Adrião and Peroni (²⁰¹⁸) claim that such changes are guided by the interests of neoliberalism and the various private institutes that claim to be defending educational interests, but, in reality, defend the interests of neoliberal capitalism. There are several educational groups that treat education as a commodity, which are already present in Higher Education and are interested in acting in Basic Education. It is common in several reports on the New High School, on TV, representatives of institutes defending it. Thus, it is necessary, by public school teachers, a resistance to this movement that seeks to appropriate public education to corporate interests.

From the reflections carried out by Adrião and Peroni (²⁰¹⁸), we noticed that a critical view is of paramount importance when analyzing the reasons for reducing the workload of Arts/Philosophy/Sociology, because they are disciplines, along with others, that provoke thinking and instigate critical thinking about the society. We would like to emphasize that we understand the importance of all disciplines contributing to the critical development of the future citizen, but we understand that Arts/Philosophy/Sociology, by their own trajectory, are disciplines that, once reduced in the curriculum, end up impacting directly on the set of knowledge of all disciplines with a view to the formation of critical citizens and committed to social transformation.

In the fourth category, we grouped the statements of the participants in the sense of a practical understanding that the reduction of class time ended up impacting the students’ learning, in view of the reduced workload and the contents being rushed.

P9: Mainly in High School, the class time is extremely reduced. Counting the period of checking students’ presence, organizing the classroom, weeks of tests, the time for the development of practices and for teaching content was immense. It is impossible to handle the curriculum proposed by the state and the students, consequently, learn less and, also, are less involved with the respective disciplines and their practices. Time is critical to learning. Special students have even more difficulty with all this.

P14: They don’t have quality time with the teacher and to develop in-depth work in the subjects.

P16: One class a week is very complicated, you can’t do anything.

P17: Totally, it is impossible to work the minimum from content in a 50-minute class when half of it is also bureaucracy.

P19: It has greatly compromised learning. The debates we used to do were suspended.

P21: Content reduction, difficulty approaching students, there is no time to work on the contents, as there are five classes per quarter just to evaluate; what remains hardly generates time for content, deepening discussions, generating debates or doing work that develops various skills such as communication, production, creativity. With the absurd number of students, we cannot do discursive activities or discussions. Evaluations become only multiple-choice tests.

P24: Everything is in a rush, so students do not have time to absorb the proposed content.

P25: Difficulty in organizing classes that improve the educational process due to lack of time.

P28: […] superficiality of the contents.

P29: In addition to the impact caused by the pandemic, it is notorious the content lag, as students who were in the second grade, for example, had in their grid the prospect of two classes in the third grade, which causes small adaptations to try to fulfill what was programmed. The early grades end up starting with some discrepancies, which demonstrates that, in the medium term, there is a loss of content, and, in the long-term, in the education of these individuals.

P30: Again a weak learning.

P31: […] they are complaining about just a class per week.

The teachers’ statements in this category point towards the importance of realizing that time is spent in the classroom with checking student’s presence and other bureaucratic organizations. Therefore, the class time ends up being greatly reduced. In addition, with the reduction of two classes to one per week, the workload of Arts/Philosophy/Sociology ended up directly impacting artistic, philosophical and sociological learning. In this context, from the theoretical framework presented, we can see how much the reduction in the workload of some subjects to the detriment of the increase in others left the curriculum impoverished due to the devaluation of the Human Sciences in 2021 in the state of Paraná and, consequently, the critical development of students.

Lotta et al. (²⁰²¹) present us with important considerations in the perspective that the implementation of the High School reform that is underway did not come from popular will, but from a Provisional Act of the Temer Government. Who would be interested in the reduction in the workload of disciplines that stimulate creativity and critical sense? Based on what theoretical framework was it proposed, the hierarchy of disciplines? We did not find the answers to these questions in recent literature on the dissemination of the New High School.

Final considerations

With this study, we found that the referrals for the implementation of the New High School in the state of Paraná that have been carried out are extremely imposing, without dialogue with the school community. All subjects are important, including Arts/Philosophy/Sociology. In this sense, based on the research data, we point out that the reduction in the workload of these subjects causes major future problems in the training of future generations. According to the results of the empirical research answered by 31 teachers, discussed in this paper, we observed that the results of such a reduction are already being felt, which directly impact the critical education of future generations. BNCC is a document with legal, normative force, and there is a margin of flexibility for each state of the Federation to act at the time of application in its respective educational system. In the case of the state of Paraná, in 2021, we had the reduction of the Arts/Philosophy/Sociology workload to only one class per week. The impacts on learning were evidenced in the results of this research, given that with only one class per week in High School the students’ learning of these disciplines is thoroughly compromised.

We consider Portuguese Language and Mathematics to be central and important in the education of future generations, but we cannot, in any way, devalue the other disciplines. Curriculum, as a whole, has a peculiar importance; thus, we cannot value some disciplines more than others. In the context of the current neoliberalism in which we live, with the advancement of the voracity of capitalism, we have a situation in which it is evident that some were born to study only to meet the demands of the labor market, and others were born with a better financial situation, who will have the opportunity for broader training to continue their university studies. Therefore, we advocate, in a democratic society, the overcoming of any student dualism and thus the conditions of equality of opportunity.

Finally, we follow the unfolding of the impacts of the implementation of the BNCC in the different units of the Federation with the perspective of a critical analysis, in view of what was evidenced here of a hierarchy of the disciplines that compromises the integrality of the curriculum. All subjects have a critical character, but, in a special way, Arts/Philosophy/Sociology, once drastically reduced in High School, end up jeopardizing the integral education of critical subjects.