Escolas democráticas no Brasil: os processos formativos e os desafios de uma escola paulista

Abstract

Democratic Schools are those that do not have a compulsory and rigid curriculum, which allows students to develop an autonomy to define their learning paths and constantly the experience in citizenship and democracy. In these schools, the management takes place horizontally, with an effective participation of all people involved in this. In this context, this master's research, linked to the Graduate Program in Education at the University of Oeste Paulista (Unoeste) on Line 01, entitled "Public Policies in Education, training processes and diversity", aims to understand what are the principles and the foundations of the institutions called “Democratic Schools”, deepening the understanding of the formative processes and the challenges faced by a Democratic School located in São Paulo. This investigation has ethical approval from Plataforma Brasil (CAAE: 55939321.0.0000.5515). Thus, a bibliographic review was carried out, having the works of educators Dewey (1959; 1976) and Freire (1983; 1989; 2001) as a theoretical-epistemological basis; as a critical debate on the current situation of mass schools, the authors Foucault (1999), Mosé (2013) and Sibilia (2012) were used; and, for the theoretical construction of what Democratic Schools are, their emergence and formative principles, we are guided by Singer (2010), Apple and Beane (2001) and Hecht (2016). We also used a fieldwork with a qualitative approach, which took place through a visit to a school considered democratic, located in the city of São Paulo. Initially, a documental analysis of the Political-Pedagogical Proposal and the School Rules of the institution was contemplated as stages of the process; in a second moment, a semi-structured interview with the founder and director of the school, who also works as a tutor; and, finally, an in loco observation guided by a previously structured observation grid to verify the information that was collected in the documents and during the interview. Through the material collected from these three stages of the field research, it was possible to verify that the investigated school presents the basic fundamentals of the Democratic Schools, and, in this way, seeks in its daily practice, to form citizens with democratic principles, of freedom, responsibility, sustainability and diversity. The school organizes itself as a great learning community where everyone teaches and everyone learns. There is no established hierarchy between management staff and teachers, nor between them and students, which enhances a rich exchange of knowledge in everything that is done in the institution, such as the organization of the physical space, the decisions taken and the resolution of conflicts. The research found that, currently, it is essential to rethink the ways of doing education, given the constant educational problems that the mass schools are facing. Thus, the Democratic Schools, regarding the movement presented by the authors of the theoretical framework and as observed in the concrete example of the school under analysis, are presented as fertile ground to build a more lively, effective education that contributes to the formation of critical and reflective students.