The experience of citizenship in relation to the type of school students attend

The school plays a crucial role in helping or hindering the development of concepts and practices of citizenship and on facilitating citizenship education in the school. To reflect on these issues, opinions about the school they attend were discussed with participants in the study (its main characteristics, climate, link with families and the local community and classroom climate). Students from the PFBS highlight its ‘prestige’, status, the good quality of its education and the positive employment and employees-students’ relationship. They mention that there are no problems of bullying and aggressiveness within the school, situations that do occur in other schools in the city.

There are no students with bad behaviour like in other schools of the city; there are no “flaites” (offenders) here; a few problems maybe but it’s very unlikely to occur in this school. (Ester, PFBS)

Figure 7.1 The Chilean implemented curriculum on CE in the school

It is highly valued by them the quality of the infrastructure, the school gym, facilities, furniture and decoration of classrooms and common spaces. From the evidence, there are two issues all students value the most; one is the preparation school provides for them to get entrance into universities. As teacher shares:

This is a school in which teachers believe that students can do it, they know the requirements to study in tertiary education. We have created a tradition that tells that everyone can study; it is about perseverance (Cristóbal, teacher, PFBS).

The second highly valued issue for the participants is that the school is a Catholic one. Students’ views are:

School type and ethos Teachers’ role Students’ views of CE

Students’ spaces for participation Context of enactment

Ideologies

Objectives and content Conceptualisations of C and CE Purpose of CE The subject HGSC Competences Local context Identity Family Expectations Conceptualisations of C Understandings of C and CE The Chilean intended educational curriculum on CE Students’ background

The Chilean implemented educational curriculum on

This is Catholic school; we are supposed to help others. (Judith, PFBS)

We have opportunities to participate in the community because the pastoral groups encourage us to do this. (Ester, PFBS)

Teachers and parents interviewed share the same opinion; the school is prestigious because it is a religious one. In their views:

This is a school run by the Catholic Church, which has two very strong goals: one is the development of values, and this is accompanied by academic training. The two things go together, and usually, if we have committed parents who align with our educational project, usually we don’t need to make many efforts to achieve our academic goals. We support families; we create expectations, most of our students continue higher education studies, and that makes many people want to enrol their children in our school. (Cristobal, teacher, PFBS)

The school has a Christian responsibility; that is why it organises several activities during the year, especially with parents to encourage our commitment. (Elisa, parent, PFBS)

From the views expressed by participants, it can be argued that there is a strong sense of belonging to the school. This is shown in the way they describe the school environment, which is ‘a good one’, with closeness and trust between teachers, staff and students, with clear rules, respect and commitment from all the community school. As some participants express:

You can trust your colleagues; that is one of the reasons why I like to work in this school. (Miguel, teacher, PFBS)

Concerning opinions’ participants have of the PSS, most students express that even when it is not the best institution in the city, at least it offers acceptable quality in education. There are a few good teachers, but others teach in a too traditional way. Some of them said their families would not have been able to pay private school fees. It gives students opportunities to start a technical career or to get a good job once they graduate. Participants agree that there is a small number of students who get the score required to study in top universities.

In students’ opinions, there are some behavioural problems in the school and also, lack of commitment towards the school. By contrast, teachers agreed that students are still very respectful, in words of one of them:

One of the strengths of this school is its students, they still respect each other, they respect me; I like to teach them. (Juan, teacher, PSS)

I do not see any behavioural problem in the school, I mean no big problems, these are students who need a lot of support, some of them come from the most vulnerable population. (Fanny, teacher PSS

I can argue that one of the explanations for these contradictions between students and teachers’ opinions is the shortage of dialogue between them, a situation evidenced through interviews and observations I conducted:

The teacher is a nice person, but he doesn’t ask us if we like his class, or our opinions about what he is saying. Some classmates from other courses know him from social groups and they say he’s a good chap. (Jaime, PSS)

I don’t like the subject of History… because the teacher only gives us questionnaires to answer and he doesn’t explain anything. It seems that teachers are in a hurry to cover all topics. (Juanita, PSS) In the subjects in which citizenship should be taught actually they talk a lot about the French Revolution or the economy in Europe but we don’t talk about things happening in Chile and here, in our commune. They are nice people, but how they teach is not interesting. (Jorge, PSS)

As discussed in the previous section, pedagogical strategies are still teacher-centred. From the interviews, it seems to be mutual respect and approval between students and teachers at the personal level but not the spaces to know each other’s opinions. Dialogue and debate are skills the curriculum 2009 tries to promote.

From observations, I found out that the school agenda included the compulsory subjects’ classes, teachers’ meetings, students’ council and parents’ meetings; however, there were not many scheduled activities in which teachers, staff, families and students could gather together. Also, I planned to interview parents after a session of their council, but only two of them attended the gathering that day. One of its members expressed:

It’s always the same, families don’t want to commit to our school, you have to chase them. (Violeta, parent, PSS)

Participants’ opinions converge in need of infrastructure and facilities improvement because this affects the school enhancement considerably. The parent just cited also opined that it is not only the responsibility of the head teacher to ensure these improvements, but the parents should commit themselves to play a crucial role on this, i.e., they do not actively engage with issues related to the school community.