Resumo

MARQUES, Elias P; PELICIONI, Maria C F  e  PEREIRA, Isabel M T B. Public Education: not a priority of the public power or disinterest of society?. Rev. bras. crescimento desenvolv. hum. [online]. 2007, vol.17, n.3, pp. 8-20. ISSN 0104-1282.

Brazilian society does not have high-quality public education because it is not a priority of the public power. On the other hand, the State does not prioritize education because it has not been a demand of society. To legitimate any debate on education, it is necessary to involve the real protagonists, the teachers. A qualitative research was conducted with teachers from a municipal elementary school in São Paulo, Brazil. The aim was to identify, through semi-structured interviews, their social representations on the present role of the public school and the public power's initiatives that have been trying to integrate areas like health and environment into the school these days. On the topic analyzed here, "public power and public school", it has been found that paternalism, inefficacy of public policies and governors' lack of knowledge on school practices are evidences of the State's lack of interest in the development of quality schools, which ends up determining that the school is not able to play its social role. The teacher has been feeling more and more impotent, unvalued and uninterested in public education. Therefore, it is now time for society to undertake its responsibility towards public education. The public power, in turn, must not only know, but also experience the school, establishing a true dialog with the teacher. Through education, it must search for a sustainable social transformation based on new human values concerning ethics and justice.

Palavras-chave : Elementary education; Quality education; Health promotion; Teacher; Public power; Qualitative research.

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