The Democratization in Discourse and in Practice: the normative trajectory of Distance Education and its relations with regulatory flexibilization and market expansion

Abstract

Education, as a social right, has historically been shaped by disputes surrounding the role of the State and the purposes of educational policies. In Brazil, Distance Education (EaD - Educação a Distância), recognized by the Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education (Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional, Law No. 9,394/1996), has been consolidated as a strategy to expand access to higher education, especially since the 2000s. However, its regulatory trajectory reveals tensions between the discourse of democratization and the concrete forms of its implementation. This study analyzes the normative framework of Distance Education in Brazil, based on a documentary survey conducted using official sources, including institutional websites such as the portal do planalto and the MEC Normas system. The investigation examines how laws, decrees, ordinances, and resolutions have structured this modality, seeking to identify whether these instruments have contributed to ensuring quality or to the flexibilization of provision. The theoretical framework is grounded in authors from the field of educational policy, particularly Dourado (2017), Lima, Echalar, and Oliveira (2020), Lima (2013 and 2025), and Mill (2016), who support the analysis of policies through the categories of State, regulation, quality, and project disputes. The findings indicate that the materialization of Distance Education policies occurs in a heterogeneous and contradictory manner, expressing disputes among different State projects and revealing the coexistence of two movements: one oriented towards state regulation and socially referenced quality, and another marked by normative flexibilization and the market-driven expansion of Distance Education.