Individualizando la violencia escolar: Análisis de prácticas discursivas en una escuela municipal de la Región de Valparaíso

Abstract

This study investigated the discursive practices that sustain the high perception of school violence in Chilean public schools. A case study was performed in an elementary municipal school of mediumlow socioeconomic status of the Region of Valparaíso. Participants were 7 th grade students, their teachers, parents, school leaders, and support staff. Interviews, non participatory observations, and document analysis were used. Discourse analyses showed forms of social action orientated towards individualizing school violence, making the role of the school invisible, and externalizing the attributions of responsibility, from teachers to the multidisciplinary team, through internal referral of " difficult children" . These practices are mutually complementary and form a cycle of school exclusion that reduces students' opportunities to participate in learning spaces within the school. © 2011 by Psykhe.