Permanent Faculty Member

Lattes: http://lattes.cnpq.br/6700481146248917

Sandra Regina Sales holds a Bachelor’s degree in Literature (1991), a Bachelor’s degree in Pedagogy (1995), a Master’s degree in Education from the Fluminense Federal University (1998), and a Ph.D. in Education from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (2007). She is currently a professor at the Multidisciplinary Institute and the Graduate Program in Education, Contemporary Contexts, and Popular Demands at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ). She is the leader of the Research and Study Group on Youth and Adult Education (CNPq). Her expertise lies in the field of Education, with a particular focus on Youth and Adult Education (EJA), addressing themes such as EJA learners, teacher training and practice in the EJA context, and the intersectionality of class, race, and gender dynamics in EJA.

CONTACT INFORMATION

E-mail: sandrasales@ufrrj.br

RESEARCH AREA

• Line 1: Contemporary Studies and Educational Practices

RESEARCH GROUP

• Study and Research Group on Youth and Adult Education – GEPEJA
  Coordinators: Sandra Regina Sales and Renato Pontes Costa

The Research Group on Youth and Adult Education – UFRRJ (GEPEJA – UFRRJ) is a public space that brings together researchers and educators engaged in the field of Youth and Adult Education (EJA), committed to the right to inclusive and diverse education from a pluralistic theoretical and methodological perspective.

RESEARCH PROJECTS

• Teacher Training and Pedagogical Practice in Youth and Adult Education: The (Non) Place of Supervised Internships in Pedagogy Programs in Rio de Janeiro

Period: 2023 – Present

Debates concerning the adequacy and quality of teacher training programs for basic education are recurrent and contentious in both public and academic spheres. A well-known perspective, supported by some empirical studies but contested by others, argues that Pedagogy programs face a profound crisis, as their graduates are often inadequately prepared to address the political, pedagogical, and cultural challenges encountered in classrooms.

In the field of Youth and Adult Education (EJA), this crisis is strongly linked to the absence or insufficiency of curriculum components specifically designed for this educational modality, which serves learners with unique characteristics and demands. The supervised internship is a key curricular component and a privileged formative space, fostering interaction between teacher trainees, university educators, and teachers working in basic education. The objectives of this research are: a) To describe how supervised internships in the field of EJA are structured and developed in public and private universities in the State of Rio de Janeiro. b) To analyze the strategies implemented to acknowledge and address the racial, age, gender, and other identity-based diversities among EJA students in Rio de Janeiro. c) To propose pedagogical alternatives for strengthening supervised internships in the field of EJA.

This research employs pilot programs, surveys, interviews, observations, and focus groups involving university professors overseeing supervised internships in EJA, teacher trainees undertaking internships in EJA, and schoolteachers working in EJA institutions where Pedagogy students conduct their internships.

Research Group: Study and Research Group on Youth and Adult Education – UFRRJ (GEPEJA – UFRRJ)

Keywords: Teacher training, pedagogical practice, youth and adult education, supervised internship, Pedagogy programs

• What Kind of Education for What Kind of Citizen? Influential Discourses in Youth and Adult Education in Brazil

Period: 2014 – Present

One of the central debates in the field of EJA revolves around the tension between perspectives emphasizing the homogeneity or heterogeneity of its learners. This tension often manifests in discussions regarding young and adult citizens’ rights within educational policies, including age requirements for enrollment in courses and examinations, the inclusion or exclusion of young people from mainstream schools, and more recently, the incorporation of multiple identity dynamics related to race, ethnicity, gender, and special needs, among others.

These debates both reflect and influence discursive tensions among EJA professionals and society as a whole. The objective of this research is to identify the prototypes of EJA educators in the State of Rio de Janeiro and examine their relationship with prototypes present in academic and media discourses on “citizenship,” “diversity,” “difference,” and “inclusion” in the context of education, particularly in EJA.

Understanding these prototypes requires an analysis of continuities and changes over extended periods, as well as significant discursive archives relevant to the subject. This project analyzes academic and media discourses produced over 30 years (1995–2025). The academic corpus includes three sources: the Revista Brasileira de Educação, the Educação & Sociedade journal, and papers presented at the Working Group on Youth and Adult Education (GT 18) during annual meetings of the National Association of Graduate Studies and Research in Education (ANPEd). These sources are highly influential in shaping the conceptual training of future EJA educators.

For the media corpus, the study examines articles on EJA published between 1995 and 2015 in the weekly magazines Veja, Isto É, and Época, which were selected due to their wide circulation and significant influence within Brazil’s major media conglomerates. Additionally, a questionnaire will be administered to university professors teaching EJA courses in higher education institutions in Rio de Janeiro, developed based on data collected from ten interviews with these educators.

The anticipated results of this research will provide insights into the key prototypes shaping EJA in Rio de Janeiro, a crucial step toward developing more appropriate sectoral policies for this educational modality.

Research Group: Study and Research Group on Youth and Adult Education – UFRRJ (GEPEJA – UFRRJ)

Funding: CAPES and FAPERJ

• Diversity in EJA in the Media: An Analysis of Representations of Learners, Stakeholders, and Educational Policies in Brazilian Weekly Magazines

Period: 2013 – 2015

This research investigates media discourses on racial, ethnic, age, gender, special educational needs, and religious diversity concerning learners, stakeholders, and policies in the field of EJA. The study focuses on Brazil’s three most widely circulated weekly news magazines—Veja, Isto É, and Época—between 1995 and 2010.

The relevance of analyzing the relationship between EJA and the media is twofold. First, the political and pedagogical influence of mass media in Brazil is undeniable. However, research on EJA has historically tended to adopt a polarized view of the media: either perceiving it as an overwhelmingly influential and antagonistic force against EJA’s educational objectives, or dismissing its relevance to EJA learners’ educational processes altogether.

Second, for a long time, EJA research has overlooked its inherent diversities, particularly in recognizing learners as agents shaped by race, gender, ethnicity, religion, and other identity markers. This oversight has had two major consequences: it has hindered the development of more effective proposals to address significant challenges in the field and has contributed to an overly simplistic approach to generating new knowledge about EJA learners.

To address these issues, this study employs methodologies that capture the complexity of its subject matter. It adopts a long-term perspective (1995–2010), contextualizes EJA-media relations within a conceptual framework that acknowledges diversity and multiple ideological and pedagogical positions, and incorporates both basic descriptive statistics and qualitative approaches—particularly critical discourse analysis of both textual and visual elements.

Research Group: Study and Research Group on Youth and Adult Education – UFRRJ (GEPEJA – UFRRJ)

Keywords: Diversity, media, youth and adult education