TEACHERS’ SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT FAILURE IN SCHOOLS

Abstract

The objective of this study is a critical analysis of teachers’ social
representations concerning failing schools. Based on empirical data, the work highlights the fact that, despite teachers’ discourses that incorporate certain critical elements they emphasize the fault of students and do not recognize their own
role in school failure or a commitment to develop actions that can reverse this situation. An ideological coherence is observed that originates in psychology and which contributes in different ways to the exclusion of students that don’t “learn” and also the teachers’ representation about failing schools, that explains the
phenomenon in a individual way, with little or no connection with social and educational contexts. This study indicates the need for radical changes in education, especially regarding teacher education, because this representation of failing schools as a product of individual problems is an expression of the alienated structure of daily life in the field of education.