Objective.

The article presents the research process on the Reconceptualization Movement at the Porto Alegre School, located in Rio Grande do Sul/Brazil, which hosted the 1st Latin American Seminar in 1965.

Methodology.

A historical research was carried out having interviews, documents from the school collection and bibliographic review as sources.

Results.

Two continuing trends in community development were identified in the background of reconceptualization, called structural-participatory and pedagogical-cultural. Dictatorship shows a fusion of these trends, constituting the aspect of reconceptualizing reform. In the context of political openness the continuity of this trend is verified in Master’s productions, based on research on Community Social Work and popular education.

Conclusions.

The influence of Community Development was verified, which promoted progressive tendencies and Latin American articulation, as well as constituted a particular trend for renewal of the Brazilian social service, reconceptualizing reformism with significant participation in the Latin American movement.

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