Dialogue and youth participation in education quality : a case study from Brazil

Abstract

Policies emphasising access to education have long been prioritized at the expense of quality in education. However, recently quality in education has come to receive substantially more attention in the educational discourse. While a general agreement on the importance of ensuring quality in education appears to prevail, there seems to be less conformity towards how the concept ‘education quality’ should be defined. The thesis explores the concept of ‘education quality’ and youth participation and dialogue as possible methods for improving the quality of education. Students are key stakeholders in education, but are seldom given the opportunity to express what they perceive as being quality in education. Particularly attention is therefore given to the students’ perception of ‘education quality’. The research is case study of an educational project carried out by the Brazilian non-governmental organization Acão Educativa, with qualitative interviews as the main method for data collection. The secondary education system in Brazil has experienced a massive expansion in enrolment rates in the last decades, which has had a negative impact on the quality of education. Simultaneously, secondary education has long been a neglected topic in the Brazilian society. In an attempt to bring focus to the topic, Acão Educativa invited all stakeholders to dialogue about the state and role of secondary education. Youth hold key roles in this project. The research demonstrates that when given the opportunity to interact in the educational discourse, youth are both willing and capable of participating. Moreover, main findings from the study indicate that aside from being concerned with learning and the teaching-learning process, the students consider the psychosocial environment as decisive for their well-being in school. In particular the relation between students and teachers appear to be important to the students. Dialogue among students and teachers allow the students to express themselves, an opportunity seldom given them in school, and dialogue can in turn promote tolerance and understanding between students and teachers. The thesis also points to the fact that youth participation in education has received little attention among researchers. This study demonstrates that this topic constitutes a highly interesting and important area of research, and more research on youth participation in education quality should be welcomed.