Between Work and School: life course of poor young people

Abstract

The article describes and presents data from field research carried out with young high school students in the Youth and Adult Education modality from 14 state schools in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The analyzed data are the result of three research methodologies: survey, narrative interviews and photographic devices for self-narrating. The youngsters in the research reveal that returning to school occurs as they rediscover the meaning of schooling in their projects to improve living conditions. Work and school establish mutual influences and, for these young people, they are not self-excluding situations, they overlap to constitute the experience of a working popular young person.