Progressão continuada in a critical perspective of Educational Psychology : history, official discourse and daily school life.

Author(s)

Lygia de Sousa Viegas

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Psicologia (IP/SBD)
• Defense date: 2007-11-30

Examining board members

Marilene Proenca Rebello de Souza; Marli Eliza Dalmazo Afonso de Andre; Newton Duarte; Adriana Marcondes Machado; Maria Aparecida Affonso Moyses

• Advisor: Marilene Proenca Rebello de Souza

Abstract

This Thesis, with the critical and theoretical aid of Educational Psychology, aims at examining the program of Progressão Continuada, a policy implemented in the regular public school system of the State of São Paulo in 1998 with the goal of diminishing the high levels of failure and drop-out rates. To accomplish this aim, I approach this policy from three articulate perspectives: a historical one, the official discourse, and the everyday school life. From a historical perspective, a listing of documents in defense of the abolishment of failure in the public schools of São Paulo shows that this is an old idea, coming from the First Republic and potentialized during the Developmental period. The first employments of this proposal in São Paulo took place initially at an experimental basis, in the Grupo Experimental da Lapa (in 1960), and, afterwards, as a State policy adopted in the whole system, with the Reforma do Ensino Primária (in 1967) and the Ciclo Básico (in 1984). Next, I develop a critical analysis of the official discourse appertaining to the Progressão Continuada, by the light of the concept of ideology. The scope is the directory change in the Board of Education, with special attention to the Forum of Debate on the Prgressão Continuada, organized by the new board, indicating the historical continuities and discontinuities in this discourse. I also present and discuss the official data of passing, failing and drop-out rates in the regular school system, between 1986 and 2003. Lastly, I present the everyday school life in the times of Progressão Continuada, articulating the field work with the historical perspective and the critical analysis of the official discourse. Inspired by the ethnographic case study, I have followed, for a whole school year, two fourth-grade classes, undertaking the following field work: observations in the classroom; raising of student records; interviews with teachers and group meetings with students and their relatives. The analysis of the research begins with the description of the school and the classes attended, in relation to the background of the teachers and the global student profile, based upon: number, gender, origins, age and educational data. Next, the analysis presents elements of the daily classroom life, and the perspective of teachers, relatives and students. In addition, there is a case presentation of the students observed, with the aim of reflecting upon the exclusion within the schools. Based upon the completed research, the following aspects, which were discussed theoretically, can be underlined: the place of knowledge, of disciplining and the formation of citizens in the context of this educational policy. This research shows that the Progressão Continuada causes a loss in the quality of the education being offered, when the disciplining of students - with humiliating traits - takes the empty space of the learning contents. In addition, the fact that students are unaware of the not-failing policy is alien to the democratic ideal propagated by the official discourse. This shows the impossibility of forming citizens through a state policy that does not invest in the potential of the students that depend on it. (AU)