Rules of School Coexistence: Description and Analysis of Participatory Process

Abstract

Although there is evidence that school coexistence improves when rules are created participatively, there is not empirical evidence showing how to perform these procedures. The present, is a qualitative study that aims to describe and analyze the development of a participatory process of construction of rules of school coexistence, in a public primary school, which had the support of a mediator who intended the participation of all actors of the school community. The data was collected from the focus group with teachers and education assistants, together with the analysis of the field record taken by the mediator during the whole process. The results were analyzed with well-founded theory and empirically describe the development of a series of stages, along with identifying facilitating and impeding factors, as well as the benefits generated by the participatory process in the actors.