POVERTY AND COLOR IN CHILDREN'S EDUCATION: NECESSARY OBSERVATIONS TO THE WORK OF SCHOLAR INCLUSION

Abstract

This article presents a part of the results of a Master’s research in which the issue of children who face differentiation and inequality processes in their relationships inside school is investigated in terms of its ties to socioeconomic conditions, as well as color/race definitions. The investigation was made using the children’s own perception. The article aims to contribute to the discussion towards both the initial and continuous formation of professionals working at schools, those who should be able to observe and even question their own manners of acting and feeling while working, identifying prejudices and situations of exclusion/marginalization which they may help to produce in the school routine. The research used the ethnographic method, focusing on the children’s narratives, color/race classifications, socioeconomic surveys, field observations and interviews with the children and the teachers. The analysis of the results indicates the need of a discussion of the educational culture and its important role in the process of building identities, since it was possible to identify the daily practices that discriminate and exclude children who should supposedly find, at school, an inclusive environment able to build a positive image of themselves, as well as the African-American population and its aesthetics and culture.

Keywords

• Teacher’s formation
• Color/Race
• Discrimination
• Exclusion
• Inclusion