This article problematises specificities that surround the academic field of education, focusing on the way in which the sub-field composed of studies on educational policy is represented. To that end, it starts with a brief historical introduction to the constitution of postgraduate studies in Brazil, with emphasis on policies directed at postgraduate studies in education. Masters' and doctoral courses are considered to represent a privileged place in the production of knowledge, given the centrality which scientific research should assume in them. We seek to analyse the insertion and evolution of educational research in that process which, in its turn, is used as a strategy with a view to indicate the place of studies on educational policy in programmes of postgraduate studies in education, particularly in the northeast region of Brazil.
postgraduate studies and research; educational policy; Brazil; Northeast
