Escola de tempo integral e jornada ampliada: fatores e possibilidades que favorecem a democracia no cotidiano escolar

Abstract

This paper, which corresponds to a Master Degree dissertation, is the materialization through writing of a research in a public school, also known as Public Education Integrated Center (PEIC), in Rio de Janeiro. It enlightens clues that are brought by subjects from a full time school and which are meaningful for understanding the relationships established at school that might indicate a democratic perspective. The research is an immersion in everyday life at a full time public school and in the facts and possibilities of participation, dialog and experiences that contribute to widen and share the knowledge of the subjects involved. It brings a brief panorama of full time education in Brazil, pointing out some public policies for extended programs, whose focus is on the current context in Rio de Janeiro municipality. It shows democracy in Brazilian scenario, in education and in everyday life at school. It also shows the instances of this school as potential democracy spaces. These instances build and are built at the same time, as it is possible to observe from the School Community Council (SCC) and Class, to the creation and consolidation as Studying Group. The development of the research aimed at: investigating how subjects at a full time school (teachers, managers, other school employees, students and parents) see and understand democratic actions in different instances of the institution. When considering this everyday life at school as space-time of democratic actions, clues of the school community participation in decision making were emphasized; the relationships built among subjects; and which different and interesting elements features this PEIC, bringing perspectives of what may be changed. The actions have been related to a low intensity democracy, in which representativeness is a preponderant factor, and to a high intensity democracy, in which there is representativeness, but with wider participation of the subjects involved. The methodology applied was the Qualitative Research, with focus on everyday life. The research applied semi-structured interviews and, from them, a dialogical map was made. The results indicate that there are, inside this school, practices which are hierarchical and which are non-dialogical, reducing the participation of the subjects in the school procedures and promoting a low intensity democracy. On the other hand, there are many practices focused on horizontal relationships, on different knowledge, in favor of transforming the full time school into a place that contributes to the human formation of those who are part of this community, trying to get closer to a high intensity democracy. The extended program, as it a full time school, presuppose more dialog, more shared projects, actions which prioritize social quality of education and attempts to transform this school into something it already is, but with more participation, more experiences and more democracy.