LEARNING IN SCHOOL: the concretization of meanings

Abstract

This paper reports on part of a study carried out for the Master’s dissertation of the first author. The social representations of what makes a “good pupil” were investigated in a group of preschool teachers of children aged 5 to 6 years, in the town of Blumenau, SC, Brazil. Six teachers were asked to organize their pupils in groups, according to their own criteria, which they were asked to explain (Multiple Classifications Procedure). In this paper, the different meanings which emerged from the teacher’s words, when they referred to the school learning, were analyzed using the theoretical framework of Social Representations Theory. It was found that the teachers closely relate school learning to children’s behaviors and attitudes. These, in turn, are thought to be conditioned by the amount of family support given to the children. The role of school culture in perpetuating and reproducing those difficulties was not questioned by the teachers.