Community schools and community development: São Paulo's Unified Education Centres seen from the other side of the street

Abstract

Recent debate on the importance of education for socioeconomic development has largely focussed on school achievement, as measured by international rankings. The pressures from governments to improve results has led to concerns about the consequences for teachers and students, and to counter proposals to value schools that promote the general good of the surrounding community and, in doing so, return to the idea of community schools that was much debated in the 1970s in the developing and developed world. In 2001, the São Paulo city government began building a network of Unified Education Centres (CEUs) in vulnerable areas. In addition to enhanced educational and sports facilities, they all have a theatre, library, swimming pools, a computer centre, and spaces for workshops and community meetings. Evaluation studies have mainly focussed on the experience of education staff in learning how to deal with the broader inter-sectorial aspects of the Centres. We look at the Centres from the outside; from the position of those who live and/or work in the surrounding streets and neighbourhoods. Based on 68 street level conversations, the analysis concentrated on four dimensions: the use made of the CEU in the day to day; new perspectives for the young; the CEU as a space for sport, leisure, and culture in a peripheral region; and the socioeconomic impact. Results show that whilst the impact of the Centres 'in the surrounding community' is significant, there is still much to be learned for them to be seen as part 'of the community'.