Educação de jovens e adultos e educação profissional: qual o lugar das pessoas idosas nas políticas públicas brasileiras?

Abstract

This study analyzes how Brazilian educational public policies that articulate Youth, Adult, and Elderly Education (EJAI) with vocational education address the presence of older adults, seeking to understand possible processes of invisibilization and evidence of institutional ageism in official documents. The research is based on the understanding that, although EJAI is presented as an educational modality aimed at diverse groups, older adults still occupy a scarcely visible position in educational policies, especially those related to vocational education. This is a qualitative and exploratory study developed through documentary analysis of legislation, guidelines, and governmental programs produced between 1988 and 2025. The findings indicate that, for most of the analyzed period, official documents did not explicitly recognize older adults as subjects of EJAI. Although more recent documents, such as the National Pact for Overcoming Illiteracy and Qualification in Youth and Adult Education and Resolution CNE/CEB No. 3/2025, represent important advances in this recognition, evidence of invisibilization and institutional ageism remains in educational policies directed at this educational modality. It is concluded that, despite recent normative advances, the recognition of older adults in EJAI public policies is still under consolidation, highlighting the need to strengthen actions that ens30ure their effective inclusion as subjects with the right to education throughout life.