BETWEEN PUBLIC POLICY AND PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICE: LIMITS OF EDUCATION IN ADDRESSING POVERTY

Abstract

The relationship between education and poverty constitutes one of the most critical tensions within Brazilian social policy, as schools are simultaneously expected to compensate for structural inequalities while operating with resources, teacher training, and infrastructure below the demands placed upon them. This study analyzes the limits of public education in addressing poverty by investigating the gap between what public policies prescribe and what pedagogical practice is able to achieve in contexts of socioeconomic vulnerability. The research adopts a qualitative approach of an applied nature, using bibliographic and documentary procedures supported by current educational legislation, specialized literature, and scientific production indexed in recognized databases. The results indicate that Brazilian educational policies operate within a structural contradiction: they assign schools the role of breaking cycles of poverty without providing the material, educational, and institutional conditions necessary for this function to be effectively fulfilled. It is concluded that addressing poverty through education requires intersectoral coordination, context-sensitive teacher training, and student retention policies that recognize poverty as a condition that permeates — rather than merely precedes — the school experience.