Representações sociais dos alunos sobre as práticas de educação moral presentes em escolas estaduais

Abstract

This investigation aimed at analyzing the social representations that students in the ninth year of elementary school present in relation to the moral education practices in state schools. The choice of the four schools that took part in the study took into account three aspects: the presence of problems associated to morality, the absence of initiatives to tackle these problems and these schools peripheral location. The research was ethnographic and quali-quantitative. The theoretical background was based on the Social Representation Theory by Moscovici and co-workers, and the Moral Development Theory, proposed by Piaget. The data collection was carried out by developing four studies: 1) the collection of 90 occurrences in which school conflicts were registered; 2) 58 observations; 3) the application of a questionnaire to 359 students; 4) work with eight focal groups, and a exploratory study with the educators. The data analysis was aided by the software SPSS, EVOC, SIMI and ALCESTE and also by the content and document analyses. The results indicated that moral problems existed in all schools under investigation and none of them had initiatives and∕or their own projects to solve or minimize them. Most of the occurrences were also seen to contain moral content register, for which there were no remedies, and the students were only sent from one authority to the one immediately above. The observations carried out evidenced teacher centered lessons and activities based on copy from either the board or the book, in addition to several control mechanisms adopted in a unilateral and authoritarian manner by the teachers and educators. The data analysis also demonstrated that the students’ representation of school rules involve mainly objects such as the cell phone, uniform and the value respect showing that many times they place at the same level conventional and moral rules. Regarding the objects, there is certain ambivalence, since on the one hand there are the normative aspects and on the other hand there are the functional aspects of school rules. In relation to the value respect, there is a consensus about its importance and need for good school coexistence. The social representations found in the focal groups revealed that students show some of the moral practices desired by the group such as a more democratic school, with dialogue, mutual respect and that allows students’ participation in the processes of elaborating rules and the school decision making.