Abstract

ABRANTES, Pedro. Losing and finding oneself when starting school: transitions and inequalities in basis education. Sociologia, Problemas e Práticas [online]. 2009, n.60, pp.33-52. ISSN 0873-6529.

Educational failure in Portugal and in Spain is highest in the first year of each cycle of schooling and affects a significant number of children and adolescents. This article attempts to explain this phenomenon. It is based on a doctoral project devoted to the transition between the different stages of basic education, in which qualitative research was conducted at five schools in Lisbon and five in Madrid. It was also complemented by a quantitative investigation based on a systematic analysis of international reports, national statistics, official documents and news items. The article first explains the methods used to (1) construct the subject of the study and (2) collect and analyze data and then goes on to show how the transition between education cycles is (3) an individualization process involving added risks of exclusion, (4) an arena of symbolic conflict between occupational categories on the very means and purposes of education, generating hiatuses of systemic responsibility and (5) an excellent platform for observing education systems and making an international comparison.

Keywords : education; transitions; individualisation; inequalities.

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