The trajectories of school: perceptions of children / students and teachers

Abstract

It can be said that there are two central themes that underlie the concept of childhood. The first is the socialization, linked mainly to social institutions such as the school and the family, where adults teach ways of being and acting in society for the maintenance and cohesion of the same. And the second is the individualization, in which the child is a subject of rights and a social protagonist. Pervaded by the socialization and individualization, understanding the perceptions that children / students can make on their own educational process has become an axis of fundamental importance for the understanding of school trajectories. So, the aim of this paper is to learn the perception of two children / students on school experiences and performances presented by them during part of the elementary school and to relate these perceptions of teachers who gave classes for them. This study has provided data a master's and doctoral research that followed in 2009, 2011 and 2012 - the 2nd, 4th and 5th year, a girl and a boy, with seven to ten years old, who were appointed in the 2nd year by the teacher responsible for their class as students who had middling performances. It appears as a qualitative longitudinal study that used as data collection instrument analysis of school documents, lesson observations and interviews with teachers and students (in this case playful strategies were employed). In addition, students also answered a questionnaire and produced an autobiographical text to report the experiences they had with the school. It was concluded that the two students expressed their perceptions about school performance and life experiences in the school context from the 2nd year of schooling, which not always corroborated indications given by teachers. The two students / children have shown concern with the possibility of access to certain schools at the expense of others, following the schooling process.