The purpose of the article is to make a brief reconstitution of the trajectory of the National Association for Post-Graduation and Research in Education Work & Education's (Anped) Workgroup, identifying the theoretical principles that served as the base for the studies that attempted to understand, from different viewpoints, the work/education relationship. To do so, I cover the path followed by the conformation of the Brazilian critical educational thought, notably the period of re-democratization Brazil went through after the 1964 military coup. Furthermore, I also analyze the political context in which the Marxist theory was disseminated in educational research. Based on a few political and theoretical elements identified in this process, I attempt to problematize the theoretical limits of the studies on work and education that refer to the Marxist theory.
work and education; educational thought; Marxist theory