This paper assesses the efforts and actions of the three federal levels to reach the objectives and goals defined by the 2001-2010 National Plan for Education (NPE), considering the Brazilian socio-political context. It locates the NPE at the centre of the socio-educational project disputes by discussing the main challenges to concretize its established goals. It finally points out the NPE advances and limits that should be considered to formulate the new 2011-2020 NPE in order to build a citizenship education.
2001-2010 National Plan for Education; PNE and Brazilian education; Educational policies; Education management