¿Igualdad de oportunidades? Más que el mero acceso: trayectorias y narrativas de jóvenes en fracaso y abandono educativo en España y Portugal

Abstract

Equity and equal opportunities in education are objectives present in the legislative frameworks of the countries of the European Union. One of the indicators used par excellence to guarantee the fulfillment of these objectives is the Early Leaving from Education and Training (ELET). In recent years the level of abandonment has decreased in countries such as Spain and Portugal, scenarios of our study. However, due to the complexity of abandonment processes, we cannot attribute it to a single cause. Our interest is to analyze it from the school experience: how the ESL is lived and how a school is thought to guarantee the success of all. To do this, we gather the perspective of the young people who star in it, through life stories, in-depth interviews and focus groups. In the narrative of the students about their stage of schooling, the practices of attention to diversity are translated into experiences of exclusion. In the mass school, school failure and segregation are frequent forms of response to diversity. Resources and learning conditions continue to be marked by deficiencies, particularly among those in situations of greater social vulnerability. The theoretical level where the regulation of the educational system moves tries to favor the capacity and motivation to learn. However, the practice is driven by other inertia that explain what happens in schools from the logic of accumulation and competition, leaving aside the commitment to equity.