Causas del fracaso escolar en contextos de vulnerabilidad sociocultural desde la perspectiva docente

Abstract

Latin America is characterized by being an unequal region, with high levels of social exclusion and educational inequality. From this reference, the article systematizes the explanatory hypotheses elaborated by teachers about the causes of stratification in educational results. A qualitative methodological approach is proposed, of an exploratory, descriptive and interpretive nature, based on the case study, from which the social representations of teachers about the causes of school failure are studied, in a school with a vulnerable sociocultural context in Montevideo (Uruguay). School failure is understood as academic performance below expectations for the grade in school. The results allow us to reconstruct four explanatory hypotheses that locate the causes of school failure in: 1) genetic inheritance, 2) family, 3) educational institution and 4) socioeconomic context. The most prevalent explanations, strongly associated with the meritocratic ideal and a medicalizing perspective of school difficulties in vulnerable contexts, hold the child or his family for failure. It is concluded that it is necessary to consider the impact that the social context has in determining the problem of school failure.