Ethnographic notes about Brazilian education inequality

Abstract

The aim of this article is to help understand the relations between schooling experiences and the construction of social frontiers. It is based on a study carried out at a public and a private school, between 2006 and 2007. Drawing on the SAEB (Sistema Nacional de Avaliação da Educação Básica, or National System of Basic Education Evaluation) 2003 report and on what it shows as indicators of a "good school", different possibilities of building a "school atmosphere" were analyzed, in relation to the wide range of concrete and objective work conditions that principals and teachers face at each one of the educational units involved in the study. At the end of the article, there is a focus on the importance of considering the interdependence between internal and external factors that influence the construction of a "good school". It is also asserted that overlooking this consideration brings about serious restrictions to overcoming Brazilian educational inequality.