Teachers narrative from a democratic school

Abstract

This experience report presents part of a postdoctoral research conducted at the Pandavas Institute, a community elementary school which began its work in the 1970s, based on anthroposophy. In 2013, it became one of the Brazilian democratic schools, using project pedagogy, in an attempt to dilute the separation of students by grade and age, as well as fixed class schedules. For this, the school outlined a pedagogical organization in which students could define the direction of their development, believing in the autonomy, emancipation of each individual and in the participative management. To understand this context, a narrative research was conducted with the teachers and the pedagogical coordinator of this institution. The main objective of this report is to understand the perceptions of teachers and pedagogical coordinator about democratic school from the experience in Pandavas community school. The narratives showed that, through assemblies, dialogue, “Education to think, feel and act” and participatory practices, it is possible for students to assume their role as social, collective subjects, expanding their ability to read the world, problematizing it through a transformative praxis. In the teachers’ report it was observed that education for humanization is not only for students, for teachers are also trained in this perspective and can self-realize, expressing their feelings, while considering the emotional side of the students in daily school life, in a dialogical process that envisions an education for social transformation.