Ingresso no Ensino Superior: trajetórias e sentidos atribuídos por estudantes e professores de um cursinho popular

Abstract

The access of subjects from the lower classes of society to Higher Education has been systematically denied for a long time. Studies show many inequalities in accessing the Brazilian educational system, as well as in its progression and conclusion. Affirmative actions have been stablished in order to address inequalities derived from historical roots. One of the strategies was the creation of public preparatory courses to enter the university, offered to students from public schools. Thus, this dissertation aims to understand trajectories and meanings attributed by students and teachers of a public preparatory course on entering Higher Education. This study is divided into two cross-sectional action researches, supported by a qualitative approach and carried out in a public preparatory course at a public university in the interior of Minas Gerais. In both researches, participants were recruited through the author's previous contact with the institution responsible for the preparatory course. Student participation was voluntary, after formal clarifications were presented. The data were collected in a safe environment, which protected the students' physical and psychological comfort. In both researches, the anonymity of identities and the confidentiality of information were maintained. Research 1 aimed to understand how students signify the process of living the public preparatory course and the expectations related to entering Higher Education. Seven students participated, with an average age of 18.1 years. To collect data, the research carried three weekly meetings, following the proposal of Operative Groups, and a sociodemographic questionnaire to characterize the sample. Mediating objects were used to address issues related to the specific objectives of the research. The Research 1 main object were sociodemographic questionnaires and the audio recording of group meetings. The data were organized by emerging research groups and analyzed based on the Operative Groups theory. It was noticed that the student preparation process is marked by variables that can often cause illness. However, the creation of groups facilitated the understanding of unconscious alliances and collective movements that helped the participants to be aware of what they felt and to build symbolic resources to deal either with the experience of the course and with the expectations about entering the university. The Operative Groups showed themselves as a possible source of support and as a health promotion strategy in this scenario. Research 2 aimed to understand the meanings attributed by the teachers of the course to their experiences as trainers of their students. Fifteen teachers, university students and volunteers participated in the Research 2, with an average age of 23 years and with at least six months of experience in the course. A semi structured interview script was used to collect data and was applied individually. The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed in full and literally. The data were organized by the thematic analysis by Braun and Clarke and analyzed using related literature, such as Freire, Zago, Whitaker. Teachers enter the course through personal identifications and believe in the social reach of the strategy. In addition, they see themselves as instructors, have a close relationship with students, but have difficulty in topics that go through didactics for teaching. Finally, it was found that teachers identify the difficulties of their students to preparing themselves to face selection processes, but these issues do not extend much to the content transmitted, as a way to effect popular education. The training provided by the preparatory course shows itself as a possibility of reaching popular education, in order to effect the democratization of Higher Education, however, this presents itself as a challenge in face of the logic of a system based on approvals rather than on the emancipation of citizens.