A escolha de escolas Wardof por familias de camadas médias

Abstract

This study is situated in the field of Sociology of Education and has the objective to identify and analyze the motivations, objectives and strategies used in the choice process of middle class families that opted to school their children, fully or partially, in one (or more) of the three Waldorf schools in Belo Horizonte and metropolitan region. To build our object and analyze our data, we used as theoretical references, the works of Pierre Bourdieu and Basil Bernstein, as well as those that deal, more specifically, with the dynamics of school choice in the middle class context, specially the ones that approach the family option for non-traditional schools. As our main method of research we conducted semi-structured interviews with 27 families and 4 teachers of the Waldorf schools investigated; additionally, we analyzed some data from the schools newsletters. The theory has already pointed to the existence of a close relation between the lifestyle of middle class families and the schools chosen by them. Our empirical data showed that the family habitus of our subjects are significantly synchronized with the Waldorfs pedagogy position, and, consequently, their choice for those schools. Our study shows that the culture of those schools have a strong influence not only on the habitus of the social actors involved, but also, on the relation family-school that is established in this context. We conclude that the choice strategies developed by these families are mainly influenced by their social and cultural capital. Apart from that, they appear to be extremely mobilized, not only regarding the process of school choice, but also in relation to their childrens schooling experience.