Retratos da educação: estratégias de escolarização no ensino primário em Coxim, Sul de Mato Grosso 1930-1963

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is to study the strategies used by teachers in the development of the primary education sector in South Mato Grosso - SMT, Brazil and in the municipality of Coxim in Mato Grosso state. The analysis covers the public policy establishing and organizing the primary school system and the manner in which teachers put educational policy into practice. The investigation considers the macro and microsocial factors which affect teaching practice, highlighting the interplay between the curriculum imposed by the educational regulations and the response of educational practitioners as social actors. The central question in this research is to understand how primary education was organized in this region of Brazil and how teachers adapted their practice to the various requirements imposed by the educational system. This involves a consideration of the establishment of the primary education model including the rural school system, Escolas Reunidas and the transition to school groups which occurred during this period. The period researched starts in 1930 with the beginning of the Vargas presidency and ends in 1963, on the eve of the military coup which overturned Brazil´s political regime. This period was a time of reorganization of Brazilian public education, expansion of primary education, spread of School Group units, professionalization of teaching and the institution of the great Primary Education Congresses. This explains the focus on this particular period. To aid the investigation the following questions were formulated: What were the State educational policies for the organization of primary education in South Mato Grosso? What similarities and differences were found between the various municipalities of the region? How did primary education in the municipality of Coxim compare with other parts of South Mato Grosso? What difficulties and opportunities did teachers find? What strategies did teachers use to satisfy the demands of the system in their local context? The methodology used to answer these questions encompassed the following sources: primary documentary sources such as communications and reports of the various educational and political authorities; historical writings from the local regions; and oral testimony in which we spoke with individuals about their lived experience in ethnographic and empirical dialogue. Significant in our theoretical research are the notions: ´certeuanianas´ in relation to strategy and tactics, ´bourdesianos´field concepts, with room for struggle where the habitus operates. Intertwined with these theoretical principles, the ideas of representation and appropriation of Roger Chartier assist in understanding the range of educational strategies used in teaching practice. Five chapters are devoted to the analysis of different representations of education originating in politics, community and the teaching profession which combine to form educational strategy. The study shows the contribution of educators in primary schools in South Mato Grosso and Coxim municipality in the years 1930 to 1960 and how they adapted their work in the face of the policy of the educational authorities to create strategies in primary education in their particular context. The principles explicit and implicit in the documents analyzed and in the career stories of teachers reveal the range of primary school establishments and the effectiveness of these schools in the urban fringe and in rural areas and the process of the establishment of graduate school. At the same time our study brings to life the historical times in which teachers exercised their profession and the diversity of experiences of different individual professionals.