DISTANCE EDUCATION IN BRAZIL: EXPANSION, DEMOCRATIZATION OF ACCESS, CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

Distance Education (DE) has gained increasing prominence in the Brazilian educational landscape and has undergone significant transformations, driven by the development of Information and Communication Technologies, the expansion of internet access, regulatory changes, and the growing demand for more flexible educational alternatives. Although it has the potential to expand access to higher education and serve students facing geographical, professional, and economic limitations, its expansion also involves challenges related to the quality of education, digital inequality, dropout rates, student autonomy, teacher training, and pedagogical mediation. This study aims to analyze the trajectory and expansion of Distance Education in Brazil, considering its contributions to the democratization of access to education and the main pedagogical, technological, and structural challenges associated with this modality. This is a bibliographic study with a qualitative and exploratory-descriptive approach, based on the analysis of scientific publications on the subject. The results indicate that Distance Education has expanded opportunities for access to education, particularly due to its flexibility in terms of time and space. However, its quantitative expansion does not, by itself, guarantee educational democratization. It is concluded that consolidating Distance Education as an instrument of democratization depends on balancing expansion, quality, digital inclusion, student retention, and a commitment to learning.