A participação familiar nos processos educativos: uma análise das representações de mães sobre a relação família-escola

Abstract

The study aims to understand the mothers’ social representations on the family-school relationship. This family-school relationship was investigated in terms of learning, children’s behavior and how close the family is to the school environment. This study is based on the social representations theory idealized by Serge Moscovici (1978) that seeks to explain the effect of common-sense knowledge about social objects on people's behavior, attitudes and judgments. The methodology to be adopted has multifaceted characteristics that will seek to explore the mothers’ social representations on the family-school relationship. The pluri-methodological approach privileges the qualitative analysis and makes possible the data interpretation. The study was conducted with 105 student’s mothers enrolled in last pre-school year, first and fifth grade of elementary school. Of this total, 62 were mothers of children studying in private schools and 43 in state schools located in a southern country city. First, the mothers completed a questionnaire including open and closed questions about their profile. Then the Free Association technique was applied using the following inductive terms: Family and school performance; Family and children behavior; Family at school. The next step was the application of the projective narrative method - the mothers were asked to complete in their own words an unfinished story. Finally, the image selection method was applied when they were asked to choose from four figures which one best represented the family-school relationship, justifying their choice. The data obtained from the Free Association method was interpreted using the Evoc software (2000). The text segments were analyzed by the Iramuteq software (2009). The content analysis technique was used to review the image selection justification (BARDIN, 1977). The research project was submitted to the Research Ethics Committee and was approved. The results indicate that there was no difference between the two mother groups when the subject was the learning process: both groups realize they have an important role in the process of supporting their child. Regarding the children's behavior, there was a difference between the two mother groups. For the private school mothers their role in the moral, ethical and social formation was firstly through conversations. In the background the rules and limit impositions were mentioned. For the state school mothers, the moral, ethical and social formation appear as a problematic and concerning topic. In the background the limit impositions were mentioned. Regarding the subject of family at school, there were similarities between the two groups. Both emphasized the importance of the family participation at school following the children’s school life. For the private school mothers the family-school relationship should be filled with harmony, understanding, partnership, growth and development. For the state school mothers two kinds of answers about the family-school relationship were obtained. Most of them did not mention anything about it, merely commenting on the benefits of their children going to school. In only a few cases the importance of this relationship was mentioned. Possibly, the representations of the family-school relationship are also anchored in the history of the school in Brazil, which extended access to education to a large number of children and young people, and disseminated the ideals that schools form for work, provide better conditions for life and that the family should offer support to this process.