Abstract
This chapter considers the theoretical foundations for three aspects of the Partido dos Trabalhadores's (PT) overall reform agenda: democratization of school administration, an improved quality of instruction, and the formation of critical and responsible citizens. Though these are articulated as distinct policy goals, in reality they are inter-related and inter-dependent and have as their primary vehicle the creation of a Popular Public School. The chapter describes the administrative reforms initiated by the PT-Municipal Secretariat of Education (PT-MSE) and elaborates on the theoretical foundations of the Secretariat's main policy effort, the Interdisciplinary Project (Inter Project). The PT's curriculum reform holds as its core ethos the democratization of schooling and the creation of a critical citizenry prepared to take part in the movement to democratize Brazilian social and political life. At the foundation of the PT's theoretical framework for educational reform is the Freirean model of problematizing pedagogy and his notion of the generative theme.