A família e o fenômeno do absenteísmo discente no ensino fundamental em uma escola municipal de Belo Horizonte

Abstract

This dissertation belongs to the field of the Sociology of Education, specifically to the area of the relationship between lower class families and their childrens schooling. The purpose of this study is to investigate the infrequency at school: how does the family influence school absenteeism of their children. Therefore, semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven students and five family members of the 6th and 9th grade level of a municipal school in Belo Horizonte, the field research took place in May 2012. The selection of students was based on the fact that all of them were retained because of infrequency in 2011 and are enrolled at that same school during the year that followed the failure. The questions made during the interviews addressed, among other issues, the family involvement in schooling of students, the value of the school to the family, the family and school reaction to the students absenteeism and the reason why the student misses classes. The results revealed that the family can be one of the determinants of school infrequency of their children, especially because of the typical forms of authority developed by lower classes, their temporal provisions, the value the family attaches to the school and the involvement it has in the school education of the children. It is important to note that, this conclusion is not blaming the families of the children for school absenteeism, but it reveals how difficult it may be for these families to invest in the education of their children.