Resumo

PRIOSTE, Cláudia. Teachers´ hypotheses on academic failure in the early grades of Elementary School. Educ. Pesqui. [online]. 2020, vol.46, e220336.  Epub 06-Ago-2020. ISSN 1678-4634.  https://doi.org/10.1590/s1678-4634202046220336.

Academic failure in Brazil is chronic and complex, therefore it is significant to listen carefully to those who deal with everyday challenges in public schools. The purpose of this research was to identify the teachers´ hypotheses concerning the difficulties in learning at school and to analyze some aspects underlying the explanations provided by those teachers. Information was collected by means of 133 questionnaires and focus groups with teachers working on Elementary School level. Thematic analysis of contents and the frequencies of words were used in order to systematize and interpret the results. Most teachers, 88 percent, explain that difficulties in learning are related mainly to the lack of support and encouragement by the student`s families; 69 percent highlight aspects associated with students, such as lack of interest, of attention, of preconditions, in addition to indiscipline and emotional problems. They also emphasize issues pertaining to public policies: reduced age for registration in Elementary School without the corresponding structural adaptations in the school, inadequate teaching materials, and continued academic progression without supporting the children with learning difficulties. We have concluded that even if such explanations, at a first look, indicate prejudices against families and students, upon careful examination, they reveal contemporary symptoms of the consumerist society, dissonances in the family-school relationship, and depreciation of education. What teachers say is an denounce of a market of handouts and workbooks, beside some types of training which dismiss their knowledge. The training courses, nicknamed teacher deformations by teachers, seem to be out of the context of the concrete problems faced by the public schools. Finally, what teachers say also bespeak the universe of mediatic manipulations towards the interests and values of families and students.

Palavras-chave : Academic failure; Learning difficulties; Literacy; Teacher training; Media and childhood.

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