This paper explores the inclusion of a gender perspective in pre-school and basic education in Brazil during 1988-2002, with a special attention to the National Curriculum Referents for Pre-School Education and the National Curriculum Guidelines for Basic Education. It concludes that, although these documents provide important orientations to build public policies in education from a gender perspective and thus contribute to the formation and practice of female and male teachers, such policies are not duly implemented by the State. Since there are no systematic studies on the effectiveness of these policies and their possible impact on the pedagogical performance of teachers, both their legitimacy and stated objectives to ensure conditions of equal quality in the teaching system and in teacher training are weakened.
Gender; Education; Public policies; National Curriculum Guidelines for Basic Education; National Curriculum Referents for Pre-School Education