Educação: Teoria e Prática (Jan 2012)
The Harry Potter’s Syllabus: representations of school and syllabus in children’s and adolescent literature
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to analyze the representations of school and syllabus divulged by the Harry Potter book series. Successful all around the world, this series consists of seven books telling the adventures of a boy who, at 11 years of age, discovers himself to be a wizard, being sent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he learns to use his magic powers. Based on the post-structuralist Cultural Studies, I consider the representation not only presents a reality, but pushes actively for its construction. The claim developed is that the school ideally understood by the books is the one serving as home to teachers and students, safe, and grouping the students according to their skills and individual features. The curricular model divulged by the series is a fusion between the scientific syllabus and the practical one. Having in mind the comprehensiveness of the books, it is important to understand how education has been divulged in a non-school cultural product addressed to young people.
