Meanings of secondary education from the school experience of students of public schools

Abstract

This article tackles the difficult subjects of the construction of the sense of secondary education in Chile. Specifically, we present the results of a research, which main purposes were identify, describe and interpret social represen-tations about the sense ofhigh school education from the school experience of the students of public schools of different socioeconomic status (lower class, lower-middle class, middle class, upper-middle class) in the Metropolitan Región of Chile.

The results of this study, allowed us identify four prevailing types of social representations about the sense of secondary education: prepare for the future, build oneself as aperson, be cultured, and Uve the experience. It is about four representations or symbolic models which show a horizon of fragmented sense in which are polarized the different ways the students of public schools live the school experience in our country. In this context, we conclude the need to incorpórate to the design of the current educational politics this diversity of representations about the sense; which can contribute, significantly to revitalize the personal and collective sense of this educational level.