Practices of resistance of students in a public school: another possibility of regarding indiscipline and learning ‘gap’

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze practices of resistance of students against the effects of hegemonic power relations present in a public school. The analysis has taken the post-structuralist theoretical field as a reference, by understanding, in accordance with Foucault, that wherever there are power relations, there are also resistance practices, which are never exterior to power; on the contrary, the resistance practices occur in the very place where there power relations. From this perspective, both power relations and resistance practices are productive and have potency for creation and transformation. Through the analysis of interviews with teachers and observation of students, we show that what the school regards as undisciplined behavior and a gap in learning the contents of the curricular proposals, may also be seen as students’ practices of resistance to the homogeneity required by the school. Such resistance movements enable the creation of spots of tension, fissures, destabilization and transformation in the instituted power relations. Hence, we regard the school context beyond the control and normalization devices, i.e. the school becomes a privileged place for freedom practices.