Adolescentes em medidas socioeducativas em meio aberto e a escola

Abstract

This text is part of a research that aimed to understand the propositions of the Child and Teenager Statute (“Estatuto da Crianca e do Adolescente” – ECA) and the role of the school and their social agents in the socio-educational measures applied to teenagers that committed offenses, using as example a city in the State of Sao Paulo that is considered a model in this field. The amount and identity of the teenagers that participated of socio-educational measures in the open system in the beginning of 2006 was investigated in the studied city. The educational facilities where these teenagers were inserted were identified and, through the case study of one of them, an effort was made to learn how they recognize “their” school. Different approaches were used for the quantitative and qualitative data collection. Among the conclusions of this study, the unawareness of the school board and teachers regarding the ECA and these teenagers’ daily living was noteworthy. Although the protection system in the studied city is considered a national example, the range of its actions in the network articulation of the social support to the teenager is questioned. Finally, the school is a fundamental reference for most of teenagers and, particularly, for the popular groups, but these groups suffer negative discrimination by the school. If attending school is important and mandatory for teenagers in a socio-educational system, the school must overcome its difficulties to better receive and educate these teenagers