EDITORIAL - SCHOOL AND EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY IN TIMES OF PANDEMIC

This year the Brazilian Association of School and Educational Psychology - ABRAPEE celebrates 30 years. It was founded in 1990 by a group of psychologists interested in bringing together scholars and professionals in the field, aiming at the legal recognition of the need for the school psychologist in educational institutions, as well as, stimulating and disseminating research in the field of School and Educational Psychology.

The School and Educational Psychology Journal was created in 1996, by ABRAPEE, consistent with the objectives of the association, for the dissemination of the knowledge that is being produced in the area. It is enough for the reader to consult the summaries of the journals, in all these years, to verify that the authors of the articles presented, in their works, themes linked to the historical needs generated in society, within the scope of Psychology and Education. As stated by Marx and Engels (2007, p. 43) “the circumstances do the men, just as the men do the circumstances”. It was, therefore, the historical context that led researchers, professionals, teachers and students to provide us with such important discussions published in these years.

Turning 30 makes us very happy, proud to have a Psychology that defends human emancipation, that fights for equal rights to material and cultural goods, among other defenses in favor of the humanization process. However, at the same time there are a lot of contradictions that permeate everyday life, the moment of joy but also of contradictory feelings.

Joy for the three-decade anniversary, but sadness for the current situation in which we live due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So far we have had about 160,000 dead. Bereaved families, suffering of people who need to continue the daily struggle of survival without their loved ones. In an article published by NUPENS / USP⁴, we read that the editor-in-chief of the British scientific journal Lancet, Richard Horton, made a warning that currently

the world is experiencing two health situations: coronavirus infections and a series of chronic non-communicable diseases. [...] both conditions affect social groups, and this occurs according to the patterns of inequality deeply ingrained in our societies. Thus, the magazine classifies covid-19 as syndemic (basically, a synergy of epidemics), which requires much broader action to protect the health of communities. [...] concept of syndemic, created by Merrill Singer, a researcher in the field of medical anthropology, in the 1990s. In 2017, the term returned to the Lancet pages, when Singer stated that the term reveals important social and biological interactions in prognosis, treatments and the construction of public health policies. “Limiting the damage caused by SARS-CoV-2 is an action that requires much greater attention to chronic diseases and socioeconomic inequality,” wrote Horton, stressing that issues such as education, work, housing, food and the environment must be considered. (Nupens / USP, 2020).

All of these considerations lead us to think about the political dimension of the disease and illness, about the fact that Covid-19 has shown the precarious and inhuman conditions in which a large part of the Brazilian population lives, with impacts also on access to scientific information (and the due understanding of these) and in the ways of coping with the disease. Unfortunately, we have seen that this adequate understanding of science is not only related to socioeconomic status, but to the possibility that each subject, in their schooling process, has the possibility of appropriating scientific concepts and developing their superior psychological functions (Vygotski, 1993). Furthermore, for Vygotski (1993), the formation of scientific concepts enables higher levels of awareness.

We have also had, in recent years, changes in the labor legislation, which removed workers’ rights historically won. Loss of rights, which, as stated by Praum (2020), has intensified with the pandemic and caused illness among teachers. Zaidan and Galvão (2020, p. 263), in this line of reasoning, highlight that the capitalist mode of production has a genocidal nature; thus, the crisis experienced today only exposes the exploitation of workers more. Exploration is experienced, according to the authors, also among teachers, with remote work, intensifying the commodification of education.

In the early days of Pandemia, the Ministry of Education (MEC) published Ordinance No. 343/2020, of March 18, 2020, which provides for “substitution of face-to-face classes with classes in digital media while the pandemic situation in the New Coronavirus - COVID-19 ”(Brazil, 2020). Other decisions, after this first one, were taken by MEC in relation to remote education, which has been effective since March in Brazil. Such measures are being necessary, but we know the problems we are facing in relation to this, from the inability of teachers to deal with new technologies of teaching through digital means as the growth of inequality of appropriation to information, when increasing number of students don’t have any equipment and internet available to access classes. In addition to these objective questions, we cannot fail to mention the commitment that remote teaching brings to the teacher-student relationship, when we start from the idea, as proposed by Vigotski (2001), that there is a unity between cognition and affection. The struggle for the right to a quality education, to carry out a job promoting the human development of the teacher, is present.

This struggle for the quality of teaching was also and is present in the area of School and Educational Psychology. At the end of 2019, the Psychology and Social Work categories approved, with the almost unanimous support of the benches in the Chamber of Deputies, Law 13.935 / 2019, which provides for Psychology and Social Work services in Basic Education, after overturning the veto to the Bill of Law given by President Bolsonaro. There were 19 years of struggle, with the active participation of ABRAPEE, for the insertion of Psychology in Basic Education.

In August 2019, the New Technical References for the Performance of Psychologists in Basic Education (CFP, 2019)⁵ were published. In 2020 the Federal Council of Psychology (2020) published a guidance document for the Regulation of Law 13,935 / 2019, which provides for the provision of Psychology and Social Work services in public Basic Education networks. These documents, among others, serve as a guide for the psychologist’s performance in the field of education and they can also help as a subsidy for the regulation of the law in the states and municipalities.

As we can see, achievements and sufferings have permeated this last year. The year 2020 is being atypical. We don’t know if “atypical” is the most correct term. Perhaps “emblematic” or “different” may be more appropriate. It is said that we are experiencing a “new normal”, “new” in some ways, but “normal” in a society that increasingly exploits workers and that insists on devaluing scientific knowledge, education, the teacher’s work, art and culture, that is, the human being, in a broad way.

We are in crises. But what is the crisis? When dealing with the periodization of human development, Vygotski (1996) says that the crisis can lead to new forms. The change from one stage of development to another requires denying what exists, seeking new ways of relating to reality, creating another guiding activity, overcoming behaviors of a certain period. Perhaps this is what we are experiencing now: we need to take historicity into account, deny what has obstructed human development, overcome certain situations in search of a new man. This path is a revolutionary process and requires a lot of struggle to transform objective and subjective conditions present in society.

Scientific production does not have the power to change reality, but it can change the conscience of those whose reading of the articles helps to understand reality in its essence and not only in appearance. By transforming consciousness, each subject can assist in the collective struggle for the transformation of the degradation situation experienced by human beings in all spheres, including education.

In dark times, we cannot be silent. We have to use letters, words, among other political actions, so that we do not conform to the situation of dehumanization. As Bertolt Brecht says, “Whoever doesn’t know the truth is stupid and nothing else. But who knows, and says it’s a lie, this is a criminal.” (1991, p. 102). Continuing with the author’s speech, we conclude this editorial by stating the following: “Only when we are instructed by reality we can change it”. We hope that the articles published in this journal contribute to the reflection and transformation of the problems experienced in Psychology and Education.

REFERENCES

• Brasil. (2020). Portaria n. 343, de 17 de março de 2020. Dispõe sobre a substituição de aulas presenciais por aulas em meios digitais enquanto durar a situação de pandemia do Novo Coronavírus-COVID-19 Recuperado em 30 de outubro de 20120, de Recuperado em 30 de outubro de 20120, de https://www.in.gov.br/en/web/dou/-/portaria-n-343-de-17-de-marco-de-2020-248564376
  » https://www.in.gov.br/en/web/dou/-/portaria-n-343-de-17-de-marco-de-2020-248564376
• Brecht, B. (1991). A vida de Galileu. In: Brecht, B. Teatro completo (pp. 51-170). 4. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra.
• Conselho Federal de Psicologia. (2019) Referências técnicas para atuação de psicólogas(os) na educação básica Brasília: CFP.
• Conselho Federal de Psicologia. (2020). A(o) psicóloga(o) e a(o) assistente social na rede pública de educação básica: orientações para a regulamentação da Lei 13.935, de 2019 Brasília: CFP .
• Marx, K.; Engels, F. (2007). A ideologia alemã Trad. Rubens Enderle. São Paulo: Boitempo. (Trabalho originalmente publicado em 1932).
• NUPENS/USP. (2020). Covid-19 não é apenas uma pandemia, e seu contexto é relacionado à alimentação, diz Lancet. Recuperado em 30 de outubro de 2020 de http://www.fsp.usp.br/nupens/covid-19-nao-e-apenas-uma-pandemia-e-seu-contexto-e-relacionado-a-alimentacao-diz-lancet/Peixoto, F. (1991). Brecht, vida e obra Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra , 1991.
  » http://www.fsp.usp.br/nupens/covid-19-nao-e-apenas-uma-pandemia-e-seu-contexto-e-relacionado-a-alimentacao-diz-lancet/Peixoto
• Praun, L. (2020). A Espiral da Destruição: legado neoliberal, pandemia e precarização do trabalho. Trab. educ. saúde, Rio de Janeiro, v. 18, n. 3, e00297129. Recuperado em 12 de outubro de 2020 de http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1981-77462020000300306&lng=en&nrm=iso
  » http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1981-77462020000300306&lng=en&nrm=iso
• Vigotski, L. S. (2001). Psicologia Pedagógica São Paulo: Martins Fontes.
• Vygotski, L. S. (1993). Obras escogidas Tomo II Madrid: Visor.
• Vygotski, L. S. (1996). Obras escogidas Tomo IV Madrid: Visor .
• Zaidan, J. M.; Galvão, A. C. (2020). Covid-19 e os abutres do setor educacional: a superexploração da força de trabalho escancarada. In: Augusto, C. B.; Santos, R. D. S. (Orgs.), Pandemias e pandemônio no Brasil (pp. 261-278). São Paulo: Tirant lo Blanch.

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  Núcleo de Pesquisas Epidemiológicas em Nutrição e Saúde Pública. Retrieved in October 30 from http://www.fsp.usp.br/nupens/covid-19-nao-e-apenas-uma-pandemia-e-seu-contexto-e-relacionado-a-alimentacao-diz-lancet/Federal Council of Psychology.
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  Federal Council of Psychology.

• This paper was translated from Portuguese by Ana Maria Pereira Dionísio.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  30 Nov 2020
• Date of issue
  2020