GAPS BETWEEN THEORY AND PRACTICE: CITIZENSHIP TRAINING AT SABINO NUNES DA SILVA HIGH SCHOOL IN SÃO LUÍS DO CURU-CE

Abstract

The book investigated the process of citizenship formation among students at a public school in the city of São Luís do Curu, in the state of Ceará. Our decision to study this issue was based on the observation that the discourse on quality education continues to be increasingly disseminated, encouraging people to believe that it exists and is at the service of the popular classes, in the way it is disseminated, both in elaborate speeches and in persistent propaganda that circulates in the media.

The general objective is to understand to what extent the management understood as having democratic characteristics implemented in the public schools of the state of Ceará has contributed to the development of quality education, forming critical and responsible individuals, aware of their rights and duties. Specifically, we chose to identify the existence of characteristics of autonomy, observing the taking of appropriate decisions for their own benefit, that of the group and the school in a context of recognition of their rights, inserted in an atmosphere of participation and practice of their duties; to identify to what extent students feel they are subjects of learning and participants in the construction of rules and functioning of the group in which they are inserted; determine the level of cooperation of students with regard to helping with the needs of the group and the school, observing the manifestation of respect and good relationships.
Harmonizing the total quality model present in educational language as a result of the advance of neoliberalism in Brazil, starting with the political and educational reforms of the 1990s, with the basic needs of school institutions constitutes a great challenge, since we observe that in today's world, changes occur at high speed, in such a way that they influence human activities and behaviors and the school finds it difficult to keep up with the pace of changes or transformations, becoming unattractive at certain times and in certain aspects.

The search for a change in this reality is presented through the universalization of vacancies, implementation of equipment, strengthening of learning environments, guarantee of textbooks and school meals, etc., indicating that the process of guaranteeing infrastructure that guarantees the minimum necessary for the realization of an educational project is in force. It also includes the incessant effort to achieve a space that is seen as democratic, modern, and focused on the interests of society.
As we know, Brazilian public schools have carried throughout their history, for many years, the characteristics of an institution that always lags behind others in our society. The result is that in the set of its attributions, directed towards its main task of disseminating knowledge, the indexes warn us that this task is not being carried out in a way that meets the needs of its clientele, which is characterized, for the most part, by people of little means, from the lower middle class, that is, the children of families that cannot afford a private school.
Since this work cannot accurately assess the magnitude and complexity of the educational problems in our school system, nor can it delve into the social problems faced by the various families in which our students live, we focus on the individual attitudes of the students, taking as a reference mainly the observation of their daily lives, marked by circumstances in which the students' behavior is present.

All relevant aspects of this work are influenced by the monitoring of school projects developed throughout the school year, supported by questionnaires and interviews with students, teachers and coordinators, with the aim of identifying the important points in the students' education and understanding the importance they give to the topics discussed here.

The nature of the diagnosis conceived at the institution revolved around: recognizing the students' capacity for reflection and organization of thought when expressing opinions, criticisms and suggestions; identifying the level of participation of the students in the activities proposed by the teachers and the school, in class and extra-class activities; identifying the level of participation of the students in the construction of rules and functioning of the group in which they are inserted; determining the level of cooperation of the students with regard to helping with the needs of the group and in classroom activities; understand to what extent students feel they are subjects of their own learning in a context of interaction with knowledge already conceived.

Regarding the pedagogical practice of teachers, we sought to analyze the objective and subjective working conditions in the context of the new public school in the state of Ceará, understanding that these conditions interfere in the learning process of students.

With regard to the commitment and competence of managers, we wanted to study the quality of management of resources allocated to sustaining conditions favorable to the good performance of daily school activities.

With regard to the performance of the agency responsible for the state's educational policy (Secretariat of Basic Education), we sought to identify, within the discourse of quality, the points of convergence and divergence with the school reality. What factors need to be integrated for the collective construction of this school.

The synthesis of this material is what guides us to understand how the teaching and learning process has contributed to the development of students' citizenship, contributing to the formation of critical and responsible individuals, aware of their rights and duties, respecting the principles of citizenship.

Thus, the concepts of citizenship that will guide this work will be, among others, those of Luís Armando Gandin (1995), who analyzes the extension of citizenship rights based on overcoming the particularistic logic, which according to him, “is rooted in Brazilian culture, and which contributes so much to aggravating and perpetuating socioeconomic inequalities”; those of Marilena Chauí (1985) who defends the idea that a society is democratic when “in addition to elections, political parties, division of the three powers of the republic, respect for the will of the majority and minorities, it institutes something deeper, which is a condition of the political regime itself, that is, when it institutes rights and that this institution is a social creation, in such a way that social democratic activity is carried out as a counter-power that determines, directs, controls and modifies state action and the power of rulers”. Also present are the ideas of Freire, Paulo (1997), who defends the idea that teaching should be attentive to the “need to respect the knowledge that the student brings to school, since he is a social and historical subject”. The educator represents the thinking of those who defend that “education is much more than simply training the student in the performance of skills”. He seeks to outline this teaching responsibility when he demarcates this stance as ethics and therefore defends the idea that the educator should seek this ethics, and calls it “universal ethics of the human being”, essential to teaching; those of Gadotti (1995) who observes that “education for citizenship happens where everyone participates in the decision-making process, because participation and democratization in a public education system is the most practical form of training for citizenship”.

This work is also based on the thinking of José Carlos Libâneo (1989), who defends that the democratization of public schools should move towards improving the lives of the lower classes of society, based on “expanding opportunities, disseminating knowledge and its critical reworking, as well as improving educational practices”; those of Thomas Marshall (1967), who defends citizenship as a status acquired as a result of belonging to a Nation-State, where all those who have the status are equal with respect to the rights and obligations pertinent to the status, not admitting any restrictions based on differences in sex, race, religion, social class, political preferences and other particular characteristics. It is important to highlight the intellectual thought of Guiomar Namo de Mello (1997) who places education as “an important element of the set of rights of citizens, where knowledge, the ability to process and select information, creativity and initiative constitute vital raw materials for development and modernity, a commitment assumed by rich and industrialized countries, which shift their investment priorities from infrastructure and equipment to the development of cognitive skills and social competencies of the population”, a responsibility of education, which is part of “government agendas and the agenda of debates that seek paths for a competitive restructuring of the economy, with social equity”. In the second chapter we address the theme “Education for Citizenship” focusing on education as a fundamental right for citizens and its possibilities for the formation of generations that have the possibility of, in the school institution, learning about the philosophical horizons of democracy as a guarantee of their rights. The dissertative study sought authors such as: Da Matta (2004); Kant (2005); Gadotti (2001); Marshall (1967); Mello (2002); Morin (2002), among others, provided the theoretical support necessary for the development of this chapter.
In the third chapter, we focus on the main government achievements implemented in the educational sector at the state and municipal levels where the school is located, also analyzed in this chapter. Such measures were also aimed at expanding secondary education in the state of Ceará. In this part, we seek the contributions of Farias (2004); Melo (2006); Soares (2009), among others.
In the following chapter, the fourth and final one, we deal with the systematized analyses based on the observations made and assessments of the questionnaires directed at the institution's daily school life.
In the final considerations, we present the conclusion of the research, indicating new paths.