Diferença e desigualdade: dilemas docentes no ensino fundamental

Abstract

Although the incorporation of issues related to difference in educational research and practice has clearly been growing in recent years, its approach still brings more concerns than answers. Our intention in this text is to contribute toward those discussions, focusing the inequality-difference tension identified in representations of teachers expressed in the focal group organized in the context of the research Multiculturalism, human rights and education: tension between equality and difference. Among the various viewpoints emerging on the LatinAmerican continent, we work within the intercultural perspective. The meanings attributed to the word difference by the participants of the focal group in question are problematized, so that in conclusion we will discuss the association of the word difference with prejudice and discrimination, as a well as its meaning as inequality. We also focus the productivity of the focal group as an alternative to the collective interview, since it provided a privileged space for interaction among the participants, offering an opportunity for discursive constructions less directed by the research and closer to their everyday practices. FOCAL GROUPS • MULTICULTURALISM • SOCIAL INEQUALITY • TEACHERSAre we all equal or are we all different? Do we want to be equal or do we want to be different? There was a time when the answer lay, self-assured, in the first half of these formulations. However, one quarter of a century ago the answer shifted.(PIERUCCI, 1999, p. 7) DO WE WANT TO BE EQUAL OR DO WE WANT TO BE DIFFERENT?Rather: why should we have to choose between one or another horizon of social identification and relations? Does difference exclude equality? We argue that it does not. However, Pierucci's dichotomy is often put forward when arguing against the incorporation of issues of 2 difference in educational surveys and practices. In this article we address this controversy, tackling the synonymy ascribed by primary school teachers to the terms "inequality" and "difference". This semantic slippage was identified in the statements of teachers taking part in the focus group held by the Study Group on Daily School Life and Culture(s) (Grupo de Estudos sobre Cotidiano Escolar e Cultura(s -Gecec 1 ) within the context of the study entitled "Multiculturalism, human rights and education: the tension between equality and difference" (Multiculturalismo, direitos humanos e educação: a tensão entre igualdade e diferença) which motivated the present reflection, structured as follows: first we paint a broad picture of the study of which the focus group was a part, describing the group and justifying our choice of this collective interviewing modality; we then analyze the meanings given by the participants to the word "difference" in the focus group context. We also discuss its frequent association with the topic of prejudice and discrimination, and in conclusion highlight ways in which these issues may be addressed in the contemporary school space and time. THE FOCUS GROUPThe focus grou...