The student worker in public school: A denied right?

Abstract

This article is the result of research that analyzed the attendance of working students in basic education enrolled in schools of the state education network of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil from 2015 to 2017. The data was produced through questionnaires and interviews and then analyzed and interpreted using the content analysis procedures vis-à-vis the theoretical framework. Despite advances, full access to high school education is still far from being achieved for all students, especially for the student population that must work while also attending school. The results of the research demonstrate the following: student work is invisible in the school; the measures taken by schools to support working students are, in general, timid and isolated. Two of the most frequently used measures, referrals to night classes, where conditions of study are less favorable, and referrals to non-curricular traineeships, are far from fulfilling the primary function of learning and have become a form of precarious work. We affirm that a paradox has been established: in order to retain and support these students, the school ends up reinforcing the duality of the system as expressed in the “excluding exclusion” in the school vis-à-vis an “inclusive exclusion” in the labor market. The analysis utilizes Kuenzer’s theoretical reference (2005, 2007, 2011) and other critical studies that emphasize the constitutive duality of the educational system.