School and child development

the real and the ideal of Brazilian educational context

pp. 123-130

in: Giuseppina Marsico, Marilena Ristum, Souza de Souza Bastos (eds), Educational contexts and borders through a cultural lens, Berlin, Springer, 2015

Abstract

In Brazil, educational policies point out the priority of education for all children but do not ensure a process of development, particularly for students from lower classes. This chapter attempts to systematize some challenging and daunting elements of this reality faced by psychologists in Brazilian public schools. The public school is not always an ideal place for the development of children with regard to preparing them for life. This chapter contributes to a critical view of public education in Brazil and the consequences of this process for students. It is organized into three parts: The first part discusses theoretical foundations of the development process as a shared historical dimension and as determined by social and economic structures that directly impact the activities and social relations present in the educational space. The second part highlights the work of psychologists in these contexts, including the challenges and the contradictions of everyday education in the public system. The final part seeks alternatives to a process that has shown signs of fossilization when facing the challenges of reality.