ABSTRACT
Most of the curricular documents circulating in Brazil mention citizenship training as a principle that justies schooling. Citizenship had become a magic signier for the return to democracy – the Federal Constitution itself was called a Citizen Constitution – then assumed by the educational policies. As a magic signier, citizenship has expressed a series of demands – for freedom, for participation, for reducing social inequalities – articulating dierent groups of society. In the case of the educational policies, the articulation involved such varied pedagogic discourses as progressivism, Freireanism and various Marxist positions. It also echoed the struggle of minority groups for recognition, as well as general yearning for social promotion and insertion in the consumer market. Briey, to train for citizenship has no literal meaning and, perhaps because of that, it is such a powerful articulating support for educational policies.
