This text strives to understand the concept of quality that underpins the plans for Brazilian education. It assumes that, over the last four decades, educational policies have oscillated according to the confrontation between social movements and educational projects determined by the successive Brazilians governments. Either expressed in terms of humanitarian principles stressing citizenship and individual emancipation or of preparation of subjects as producers and consumers in the market dynamic, such demands have produced different meanings for the quality of education.
Educational quality; Basic education; Educational policies