School function and pupils’ drop-out: the failure of education for work

Abstract

The article discusses the results of a research done in a public school in Fortaleza (Brazil) as part of a School Psychology course. The research investigated the relationship between the function of school and pupils’ drop-out based upon the opinions of the pupils and teachers. It was used a Foucauldian theoretical reference in order to analyze the collected data. It could be found that there is a difference between the school function perceived by the pupils and the function that teachers try to develop through institutional rules, resulting on the massive student drop-out reported in the researched school. When public schools fail to assure a better place for its pupils in the job market, through university access or technical formation, the idea of school as ‘education for work’ becomes contradictory. When this function is undermined, the school cannot avoid student drop-out despite the use of different disciplinary control mechanisms.