Perceptions of students and school coordination about adolescence, youth protagonism/participation and school

Abstract

Since the 1990s, the idea of protagonism/participation allows us to glimpse the poor adolescent as a social agent. The objective is to understand the perceptions of students and school coordination about adolescence, youth protagonism/participation and the role of the school in the development of emancipatory citizenship. This is action research conducted in a Brazilian public school, with the school coordination (school principal, vice-director and specialist/pedagogue) and 15 adolescent students, from the 9th grade of elementary school to the 3rd year of middle school. Through discourse analysis, it was found that, in the view of adolescents, their issues are undervalued by adults, leaving those to deal with them. While some students see no meaning in school, others expect it to improve their lives, although it is seen only as a means of achieving economic power and individual happiness. Through the discourse of school coordination, it is perceived that teaching practices are content-based, meaningless and little favouring critical thinking. In the students’ view, school actions guided by welcoming, relaxation and reflection, such as gymkhanas and student union, stimulate their participation. Emancipatory proposals require perceptions about adolescence and education of the same nature, initiatives based on dialogicity and structural and structuring measures of society.