Abstract:
This dissertation addresses the educational purposes of schooling from a neoliberal
perspective and their implications for the mental illness of basic education teachers,
with a specific focus on the state of Goiás. It investigates how school educational
purposes are reinterpreted within the context of neoliberal policies and how these
purposes contribute to the mental health deterioration of teachers working in the
public elementary education system in Goiás. Specifically, the study aims to identify
and discuss the conceptual foundations of educational purposes under neoliberal
influence, understand how neoliberal educational reforms within public policies affect
curricula and pedagogical practices, and analyze the impacts of these reforms on the
process of teacher illness, particularly in the local context of Goiás. A bibliographic
review and documentary analysis were conducted, including dissertations and theses
defended between 2020 and 2024 from the Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and
Dissertations (BDTD), highlighting the implications of neoliberal educational purposes
on the health of basic education teachers in Goiás and their contribution to teacher
illness. The theoretical framework includes authors such as Libâneo (2023), Lenoir
(2013), Oliveira and Borges (2023), Gentili (1994), Gatti (2013), Tostes (2018), and
Nascimento and Seixas (2020). The research adopts a qualitative and bibliographic
methodology, with emphasis on official documents such as the BNCC (2018), LDB
(1996), and Resolution CNE/CP No. 2/2019, among others, in addition to recent
academic literature and critical theoretical frameworks. The study reveals that
teaching work has been increasingly weakened by a managerial, technicist, and
competitive educational model, which undermines professional autonomy and
deteriorates educators' working conditions. It was found that such elements not only
contribute to the mental illness of basic education teachers in Goiás but also expose
a logic of individual accountability and institutional silencing of teacher suffering. The
data analyzed indicate a rise in medical leaves due to mental health disorders,
reinforcing the urgent need to rethink educational purposes imposed by neoliberal
rationality. The conclusions highlight that the erosion of the humanistic and
emancipatory dimensions of education directly affects teachers’ mental health.
Therefore, it is essential to formulate integrated public policies that consider teachers'
mental well-being as a central component of educational quality. Moreover, the study
emphasizes the need to restore the centrality of public and democratic education as
inseparable dimensions of a critical and holistic formation, recognizing teachers as
political agents essential to social transformation.