“My Favorite Place In School”: Comparing The Traditional School And The Progressivist School

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Tuesday III)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Schooling, identities, and subjectivities

Proposal

Schools' facilities are meticulously planned, and it is also an important element of the pedagogical context. These spaces are designed accordingly to the teaching methodology, the educational concept, and its aims (Alvares; Kowaltowski, 2015). Considering these features of the school’s facilities, the aim of this study was to comparatively analyze children’s perceptions about their favorite spaces in one school traditional school and one progressivist school. It was selected an elementary school located in Brasília, Brazil, as representative of the traditional school. Specifically, twenty-five Brazilian children from fifth grade participated. Suppressing children's autonomy, interactions, and interests throughout the educational process are typical features of traditional schools. The elements above mentioned are similar to what Foucault (2014) describe as discipline. On the other hand, one elementary school located in Porto, Portugal, was elected as representative of the progressivist school. Twenty-one Portuguese children between six and fifteen years old participated. The classes, in that school, are distributed regarding children skills and developed knowledge; thus, his wide range of age occurred. Focusing on children's interests, needs, and socialization, the progressivist school model contrasts to the traditional school model. These features converge to educational pragmatism by John Dewey (1859-1952). This study was grounded in the qualitative approach, focusing on the individual’s meaning of their actions (Fairbrother, 2015). To achieve the propose of this study, we had to comprehend children’s voices during the research. Therefore, the data were co-constructed through children’s drawings and their explanations about it (Tay-Lim; Lim, 2013). Children’s drawings combined with oral report contribute to understanding their small concepts or the historical and social context (Gobbi, 2002). Initially, they were asked to draw their favorite place in school; posteriorly they were asked to explain their illustrations. We also carried out the participant observation during one month in both schools to comprehend the school contexts (Wästerfors, 2018). Once gathered, the data was divided posteriori in four categories. However, this study will illustrate the two most significant: Climate; Expression of Feelings. The category “Expression of feelings” correspond to the children’s answers regarding the sociological dynamic of expressing of feelings (Le Breton, 2010). The category “Climate” included children reports involving features of the physical space and the interaction between those who occupy that space (Lima, 1989). Appearing as the major answer from the traditional school, 76% of children indicated their favorite place due to the climate. In that school, an 11 years old girl stated: “My favorite space in the school is the courtyard because I feel happier there. It is a quiet place and I can breathe there. It is different… I breathe the free air there.” Only 12% of children from the progressivist school reported the same issue. An 11 years old girl from the Portuguese school said: “The hallway is my favorite place. I go there during the breaks because that place is calm”. Both contexts have an unquiet climate, but we highlight the contrast of answers. Data has shown that several discipline mechanisms permeate the traditional school context. Within this scenario children’s mobility is strongly limited, they are also under constant surveillance, and the possibility to have a moment just for them are quite low. Kowaltowski (2011) argue the built spaces in schools must promote the well-being of the human being so they can develop comfortably their activities in all aspects. Nevertheless, it seems that traditional school does not offer places to promote the well-being of children, transforming it in stressful sites. Consequently, children seek for others places to escape from the classroom climate. Corroborating that affirmation, the category “Expression of feelings” emerged from 16% of children in the traditional school. An 11 years-old Brazilian girl reported: “My favorite place is the toilet. When I am humiliated by someone else, I like to cry with nobody around me, so I go there.” A 10-year-old girl also confirmed her favorite place is the toilet: “The toilet is my favorite place because I can express my emotions there. For example, when I am sad, I want to cry with no one around me to feel better. In the classroom, I cannot express my feelings, because everybody asks me and this bothers me.” In the progressivist school, no child indicated the favorite place to express feeling. The climate in the traditional school is characterized as banking education and also ruled by discipline, order, and progress (Freire, 1994). Furthermore, the banking education takes as reference sort of Fordism industrial process. The children’s acts not desired - within in schools the Fordism as guidelines for the pedagogical process - will be eliminated. Regarding the collected data, it seems children’s individuality it is not part of these expected events since they have to run away from the classroom to express their feelings. Pondering about the progressivist school context, children from the Portuguese school – even with a not to perfect classroom climate – experience times and spaces where their subjectivity has a central role when compared to the traditional school. Schools facilities are built to attend the pupil's pedagogical needs; but, this study has shown that the traditional school’s spaces are built to meet the requirements of the pedagogical process which, in turn, does not consider the children needs, once they are not considered during the educational process. On the other hand, the progressivist school’s spaces offer to the pupils several possibilities of adequate spaces for the children since they are in the center of the educational process. Although, it is important to note that children are not passive to these elements (Buss-Simão, 2012) and showed an ability to escape from a disturbing climate. In conclusion, we corroborate the importance of listening and comprehending children’s voices and needs throughout the pedagogical process, including during the process of school building designing.

Authors

• Ivan Vilela Ferreira, University of Brasilia

• Ingrid Dittrich Wiggers, Universidade de Brasília