Competency-based continuing education policies: a study on Brazilian public worker’s subjectivity

Abstract

Being competent has become workers’ desire to self-improve, dedicating themselves to develop at all times and places. This study analyses the modes of subjective production of the Brazilian public worker based on broad competency-based training policies, which haven’t been enough problematized. This research follows a contextual discourse and theoretical documentation adopting Bakhtin’s perspective, researching Brazilian public policy on workers’ education, as well as the Report of the International Commission on Education for UNESCO and the Brazilian program on professional qualification (ENAP). Results show that competencies discourse is tied to a vision of liberal and flexible education that transfers to the public worker the responsibility of Brazilian public management’s (in)efficiency. Although the fundamentals of the term “competencies” rarely appear in related literature, its usages and effects appear in its pragmatically perspective, producing a public worker who believes that he is individually responsible for its competencies and its deliverability. As it promises quick qualification and inclusion, competency discourse is a potent and
competent allied of the capitalist state.