Indiscipline and Power Relationships: A Historical Perspective in Brazilian Schools
Joyce Mary Adam, Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” – UNESP Campus Rio Claro/São Paulo (Brazil)
Abstract
This article refers to a documentary and historical research, held at the historical archives of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. The survey provided us with data that allowed us a look into historical perspective on what would be the concept of indiscipline and behaviours accepted or not accepted by school institution, on the part of students and teachers. The research searched to unveil the concept of indiscipline by means of rules and punishments set out taking into account the different historical, social and economic contexts in which they were prepared, as well as the political issues involved in the rules. The period of the survey data was the late 19 century until the year 2000. Considering that it comes from an analysis of documents produced in the period the methodology of data analysis was the critical discourse analysis (Van Dijk, 2010; Fairclough, 2012). Critical discourse analysis is an analytic research that seeks to understand and unveiling the domination and inequality are represented and reproduced by written texts in each social and political context.
As a conclusion the punitive measures and rules that suppressed behaviors considered distractions from learning and that had a lot to behavior patterns that relate more to the preservation of the school institution than to education. In addition to the rules of behaviour and punishments for students, the documents also established patterns of behavior and punishments to teachers, according to the moral concept and the political landscape, making clear the control and the imposition of a behavioral pattern for schools as a whole, exposing the culture of centralisation in educational institutions.