A word on periphery and schooling processes: what do Portuguese students have to say?

Author(s):

Thiago Freires(presenting / submitting)Fátima Pereira

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

ERG SES H 08, Practices, Sociology and Education

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-08

11:00-12:30

Room:

326. [Main]

Chair:

Francesca Gobbo

Contribution

This paper intends to present initial data from an ongoing PhD research aimed at debating the meaning of school and the importance of schooling processes for social groups at risk of experiencing situations of inequality, discrimination and socioeconomic and cultural exclusion. The work emerges from a deconstruction of the senses of periphery and engages on the consideration of how and why students living under vulnerable conditions remain within the formal educational system. Assuming education as a right recognized in modern societies, as stated in article 26 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we chose two zones of a sensitive character, one in Portugal and the other one in Brazil, in order to develop our research. Our main goal is to comprehend what sense students make of school and what kind of school is available in areas known as peripheries (in geographical, social, economic, regional and global terms). We understand that access to education is a primary step regarding the application, consolidation and expansion of what we call human rights (Estevão, 2007). For that reason, school, therefore, schooling processes, should be seen as initiatives of dialogue, promoting and strengthening the voice of the various subjects who are responsible for further developing public environments where human rights are widespread. As Young (2007), we deny the closure of schools as a way of rethinking education in modern ages, preferring rather to investigate what kind of teaching and learning activities are available for youth from vulnerable contexts. In other words, our study believes it is crucial to identify what education is available, how it is offered and for whom (Freire, 1970), as a means to interpret the educational trajectories that take place in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Basically, our theoretical foundation covers studies that consider the notion of periphery beyond the sociocultural and geographical concepts; research on the intersection of youth, schooling processes and school as an institution; and, finally, scientific literature addressing the importance of students' relationships with other social actors (parents, teachers and friends) throughout the development of their educational trajectories. In terms of “periphery”, we deal with it in its specificity as a fragmentation of the urban space, a vague and non-consolidated area, where infrastructure is poor and there is lack of resources in fields concerning culture, sports and mobility (Van Zanten, 2001). Accordingly, we play with the roles of local and regional dimensions, i.e., we address the fact that the same geographical spot can redefine its representativeness and performance due to the focus implied in its reading – local, regional or global (Stoer and Araújo, 2000; Leão, 2006). In this sense, Heikkinen (2001) argues that studies considering different dynamics of reading are crucial in the interpretation of peripheries and centers, once they have potential to highlight possible new social classes’ cultures and even ways of life, phenomena quite current in blocks such as the European Union. Regarding the educational trajectories, we assume them as histories, which can only be perceived when judged along the three times of their existence – the past, the present and the future (Charlot, 2009). The meaning of school, along the educational trajectory, is built on the tension of belonging and investment, a process acquiring distinct senses in line with the level of resources a student may have available (Leão, 2006). Interestingly, despite the difficulties that certain youth publics might face, numerous studies led to the fact that disadvantaged students keep struggling to remain in formal school, a decision endorsed by families whose support has the potential to boost academic and identity development (Hall and Callery, 2003; Lahire, 2006; Singly, 2007; Fan and Williams, 2010).

Method

Considering that our main goal relates to the comprehension of school meanings for students whose educational trajectories take place in peripheral contexts and that we are dealing with two different empirical fields, we adopted a multi-case study approach in which the narratives perspective play a major role. Data collection addresses a variety of techniques, including focus groups, biographical interviews, document analysis and questionnaires, in a movement of methodological eclecticism, typical of the multi-case studies (Stake, 2007). Associated with two different neighborhoods from two distinct countries, our work is intermediated by a public school of secondary education in each place. One of the schools is located in Peso da Régua, Portugal, while the other one belongs to Fortaleza, the capital city of Ceará State, in Brazil. Both cities were chosen under the idea that they are part of contexts under development, especially considering the fact that they perform poorly on human development indexes (IGE, 2004; PNDU, 2010). Schools were assigned to the investigation based on the assumption that they are part of sensitive zones, therefore, potentially portray situations of inequality, discrimination or economic exclusion, a scenario that further data may deny. Criteria for selection of students participating in the research respect gender diversity, age and grade, and the mighty identification of these young subjects with vulnerable groups. Empirical research involves two moments of data collection. The first, which is in course, refers to Portugal and the latter one, to be further developed, covers the work in Brazil. Each of these phases is characterized by a sequence of steps addressing to our data collection techniques. First step regards the focus groups, used as a tool to display debate among students on the characterization of their neighborhoods. This procedure allows us to access public knowledge we want to confront individually later (Fonseca, 2005) through the application of biographical interviews, our second step. The interviews, 15 in each context, work as a means to deepen our understanding of individual students’ trajectories. We are very interested in their first order narratives, i.e., those stories subjects are able to organize about themselves and their experiences (Elliot, 2005). Next, we analyze documents that support us in our holistic view of our object and, then, we apply questionnaires to all students of each school with the purpose of better understanding their sociocultural background. Data must be analyzed within the principles of content analysis (Pereira, 2010).

Expected Outcomes

It is crucial to observe that this is an ongoing research, therefore, we have preliminary results that serve us as a basis to conceptually organize expected outcomes. At this stage, we have developed the empirical work in Portugal, which is related to the first phase of the project, meaning we are about to finish half of our data collection. As we have affirmed before, we are interested in identifying the importance of school to students who have been experiencing their educational trajectories at public institutions located in developing areas. We infer that comprehending the place education has for young students at vulnerable neighborhoods / situations depends on the reconstruction of their schooling lives through the identification of social, institutional, working and personal aspects that support their views and attitudes towards a formal educational system. Preliminary results are organized into three main areas: institutional relationship, resources availability and identity. Current data suggests that resources availability and interrelationships among educational actors (parents, teachers, relatives, friends, school staff) interfere deeply in the building of schooling trajectories. School is of relevance for the young students and they value it, despite there is difficulty in understanding its role in the present since they generally project it in terms of the future. On the other hand, geographical peripheries have less impact in the definition of a schooling path, even why, at times, students do not perceive their neighborhoods within such labels. It is the deficiencies, the lack of resources or infrastructure that mediates their experience, not the regional status of their school area, although its representation might have impact on identity issues.

References

Charlot, B. (2009). A relação com o saber nos meios populares. Uma investigação nos liceus profissionais de subúrbio. Porto: CIIE /Livpsic. Elliott, J. (2005). Using Narrative in Social Research. Qualitative and quantitative approaches. London: SAGE. Estevão, C. (2007). Direitos humanos, justiça e educação. Educação, Sociedade e Culturas, 25, 43-81. Fan, W., & Williams, C. M. (2010). The effects of parental involvement on students’ academic self-efficacy, engagement and intrinsic motivation. Educational Psychology: An International Journal of Experimental Educational Psychology, 30 (1), 53-74. Fonseca, L. P. (2005). Vozes, silêncios e ruídos na educação escolar das raparigas. Tese de doutoramento, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal. Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Seabury. Hall, W. A., & Callery, P. (2003). Balancing personal and family trajectories: an international study of dual-earner couples with pre-school children. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 40, 401-412. Heikkinen, A. (2001). The transforming peripheries of vocational education: reflections from the case of Finland. Journal of Education and Work, 14(2), 226-250. IGE - Inspeção-Geral da Educação e Ciência (2004). Índice de desenvolvimento social. Concelhos de Portugal Continental (Portaria n º 200/2004 2ª Série de 4 de Fevereiro). Available via http://www.ige.min-edu.pt/site_actividadev2/documentos/mapa.pdf. Accessed 20 Jun, 2014. Lahire, B. (2006). A cultura dos indivíduos. Porto Alegre: Artmed. Leão, G. M. P. (2006). Experiências da desigualdade: os sentidos da escolarização elaborados por jovens pobres. Educação e Pesquisa, 32(1), 31-48. Pereira, F. (2010). Infância, educação escolar e profissionalidade docente. Um mapeamento social dos discursos em formação inicial de professores. Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. PNDU - Programa das Nações Unidas para o Desenvolvimento (2010). Ranking IDHM Municípios 2010. Available via http://www.pnud.org.br/atlas/ranking/Ranking-IDHM-Municipios-2010.aspx. Accessed 20 Jun 2014. Singly, F. (2007). Sociologia da família contemporânea. Rio de Janeiro: FGV. Stake, R. E. (2007). A arte de investigação com estudos de caso. Lisboa: Gulbenkian. Stoer, S. R., & Araújo, H. C. (2000). Escola e aprendizagem para o trabalho num país da (semi)periferia europeia. Porto: Instituto de Inovação Educacional. Van Zanten, A. (2001). L’ école de la périphérie. Scolarité et ségregation em banlieue. Paris: PUF. Young, M. (2007). Para que servem as escolas? Revista Educação e Sociedade, 28 (101), 1287-1302.

Author Information

Thiago Freires (presenting / submitting)

University of Porto

Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Porto (FPCEUP)

Porto

Fátima Pereira

University of Porto, Portugal

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