Public education and school: an austinian reading

Abstract

This paper aims at discussing both human formation in public schools and the speech acts surrounding public education. While following the principle that language is performative, it scrutinizes the connection between public school and speech acts, with regard to the promise of human formation in institutional discourses. The paper analyzes the Base Curricular Comum, or Common Curricular Basis of Pernambuco State in Brazil. As a fi nal refl ection, the study points to the trouble of some notions in the document, namely discursive consensus, solidary practices, and competence, for such notions institutionalize concepts such as solidarity and the promise of “comfort” to peers who interact consensually.