A BRIEF CONSIDERATION ABOUT THE ACADEMIC RESEARCH ON THE EXPRESSIONS “FAILURE” AND “SUCESS AT SCHOOL”

Abstract

There is a social phenomenon that makes people feel very confident about giving their opinions about several topics related to Education, which often turns the topics concerning this area of knowledge into objects of common sense. So much so that this assertion about the existence of a specific knowledge that belongs to teachers is the object of discussion in the area of studies about teachers’ education. A very significant example which identifies this problem is the idea of “failure at school”, an expression that is often used at random. This paper aims at presenting a discussion about the meaning of “failure at school” when it is considered the object of academic, historical and sociological research. With that in mind, studies by several scholars who have directly or indirectly devoted themselves to the topic, like Charlot, Bourdieu and Lahire, among others, will be used.