Policy Capacity and education in times of pandemic: The experience of Minas Gerais

Abstract

This qualitative article discusses the capabilities mobilized by the Minas Gerais State Department of Education (SEE) to design and implement the remote education program (Regime Especial de Atividades Não Presenciais – Reanp) during the pandemic. Based on the concept of policy capacity by Wu et al. (2015), we analyze the actions taken by the actors involved in the process of constructing and implementing the remote education policy, discussing the mobilization of preexisting, created or strengthened capabilities, highlighting the challenges of education in facing the crisis and responding to the complex issues that arose as a result of the pandemic. To this end, six high-ranking bureaucrats at the SEE were interviewed between March and April 2023. The analyses reveal that, with the arrival of the pandemic, the SEE mobilized several preexisting capabilities, enabling the agency to gather elements that favored the design and implementation of emergency remote education policies.